Suspect May Have Had Student Visa but Didn't Arrive at School

By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 20, 2001; Page A12

One of the suspected hijackers aboard the plane that slammed into the Pentagon may have entered the United States on a student visa to study English at an Oakland, Calif., college – and was apparently never monitored after he failed to show up for the program.

Hani Hanjour, who has the same name as one of five suspected hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77 from Dulles International Airport, received an F-1 student visa by applying for an intensive English course run by ELS Language Centers at Holy Names College, said Mike Palm, the program's marketing director.

Hanjour, who gave a Saudi Arabian address when he applied in 2000, never turned up at the school, which rents space at Holy Names but is not connected to the college. FBI agents have taken Hanjour's file from the center, Palm said.

"It's the worst nightmare, with regard to individuals looking for ways to get into the United States," Palm said.

Fifteen of the 19 alleged terrorists entered the United States on business or tourist visas, federal officials have said. Authorities have not revealed how the others came into the country.

Use of a student visa, if confirmed, is sure to set off a fresh round of questioning of that system, which critics say allows young people to get into the United States and stay without adequate controls. There is no national system to track people who receive student visas but drop out of school or overstay their time limits.

Concern about the student visa system has flared before, most recently after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The man convicted of driving the explosive-laden van in that attack, Eyad Ismoil, had dropped out of Wichita State University and overstayed his student visa.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service began tracking students in a small program launched in 1997. But the program's launch nationwide has been delayed by funding difficulties and university opposition.

"The information system that is in use for foreign student tracking is pretty out of date," said Doris Meissner, the former INS commissioner. The new system, she said, provides up-to-date information to the INS but has taken too long to start up.

Hanjour applied for a one-month intensive English course scheduled for November 2000 at the California campus. Like other foreign students, he provided the language school with transcripts and a bank letter showing that he could afford the $1,325 program, said Palm, who is based at the Princeton, N.J., headquarters of ELS Language Centers, a division of Berlitz International Inc.

The school sent Hanjour an immigration form known as an I-20, which Hanjour used to get a student visa from a U.S. consulate, Palm said.

Hanjour never contacted the school after his acceptance, Palm said. Authorities declined to comment.

The INS student-monitoring pilot program calls for schools to send the INS details over the Internet about the students' home country, address, academic program, visa status and other information. The system is scheduled to be implemented nationally in 2003.

Opposition appears to be easing. Victor C. Johnson, associate executive director for public policy for the Association of International Educators, said the organization had reversed its opposition to the system.

"Although there has been a lot of debate on this over the years, we understand that that debate ended on September 11," he said.

Staff writer Steve Fainaru contributed to this report.