By April Ryan
“Monster” is the word used by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt to describe 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the man alleged to have set 12 people on fire in what has been determined domestic terrorism and hate crime. Leavitt Tuesday also blamed the Biden administration’s immigration policy for Soliman’s current visa overstay in the United States. The White House says he received his visa during the Biden administration and was allowed to overstay also during that same administration. The Egyptian illegal migrant was allegedly able to carry out a crime that left 12 victims injured, including a holocaust survivor. The victims were burned during a rally to bring Israel hostages home who were still in Hamas captivity.
Leavitt affirmed from the White House briefing room podium, “The US Justice Department has already filed. Federal hate crime against the alleged perpetrator, and he will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law”. This latest tragedy has put Immigration front and center. The suspect, an Egyptian, received a visa and overstayed that visa overstay had not been detained by ICE officials. According to Homeland Security, an overstay is defined as a nonimmigrant who was lawfully admitted to the United States but remained there beyond the authorized admission period. Consequences for overstaying can include fines, imprisonment, and a ban from re-entering the U.S. for some time, according to the Visa Overstay Enforcement Act of 2023
A 2017 report shows that visa overstays were almost half of the illegal migrant population in the United States. Since 2007, Visa Overstays have Outnumbered Undocumented .. In 2019, during his first term, President Trump signed a memorandum ordering state and homeland security secretaries to submit plans for a crackdown on overstays. The plan would punish countries whose citizens have high rates of overstays and require foreign travelers to post “admission bonds” that would be repaid once they leave the country. In the fiscal year 2023, a report to Congress titled Entry/Exit Overstay Report – Homeland Security reported that 1.45% of visa holders were overstayed with a total of over 565,000 people.
