Tuesday October 30, 2001

WASHINGTON - President Bush moved to tighten restrictions on foreign student visas yesterday, part of an effort to bar the entry of immigrants who commit or support terrorist acts.

Bush was directing top aides to study the foreign student visa system and develop recommendations for tighter controls.

"We're going to tighten up the visa policy," Bush said at the debut meeting of his Homeland Security Council. "That's not to say we're not going to let people come into our country. Of course we are."

But, he said, "Never did we realize people would take advantage of our generosity to the extent they have."

One of the 19 hijackers who crashed planes on Sept. 11 entered the United States legally with the kinds of visas routinely granted each year to foreign students, according to the Department of Justice. About 600,000 foreign students are admitted each year.

Some lawmakers have proposed a six-month moratorium on new foreign student visas until a system for tracking them can be implemented. Bush stopped short of that step on yesterday.

He sought to ensure the government is more diligent in making sure that foreigners who apply to colleges on student visas actually attend.

Bush also created a task force that will coordinate efforts by government agencies to keep those with links to terror organizations out of the country and locate, detain, prosecute or deport terror group associates who already live here, said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

"The country must stay on alert," Bush said. "Our enemies still hate us."

Tom Ridge, director of Bush's Office of Homeland Security, said Attorney General John Ashcroft will lead the task force and will look at all aspects of foreigners' access to the United States.

"Their charge will be to look at all options, all policies and procedures relating to access of noncitizens to this country," Ridge said. "A point of access become a point of vulnerability. ... Whether or not it requires any changes in the law remains to be seen."

Fleischer did not offer more details on the task force or say which agencies would work with it. But those involved, he said, will be directed by Bush to "work together to locate, detain, prosecute or deport any aliens who are already here who may be engaging in terrorism."

"Obviously people got in and committed the crimes they committed, and that's one lesson we should take from it," Fleischer said.