Latest news with #visaOverstay
Washington Post
2 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
What we know about the visa obtained by Egyptian man who injured a dozen people in Colorado
The Egyptian man charged with injuring a dozen people in Boulder, Colorado, in an attack on demonstrators seeking the release of Israeli hostages is among hundreds of thousands of people known to overstay their visas each year in the United States. Mohamed Sabry Soliman , 45, was born in Egypt and moved three years ago to Colorado Springs, where he lived with his wife and five children, according to state court documents. He lived for 17 years in Kuwait.
Fox News
3 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Senate Republican aims to treat visa overstayers like illegal entrants in response to Colorado terror attack
FIRST ON FOX — A Senate Republican wants to hold people who overstay their visas to the same standard as illegal immigrants in the wake of the tragedy in Boulder, Colo. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is set to introduce legislation on Tuesday that would reclassify the act of overstaying a visa as "illegal entry," effectively treating those who stay too long the same as someone that illegally enters the U.S. Banks' bill comes on the heels of the weekend attack in Colorado where Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national whose visa expired in March, allegedly targeted a pro-Israel protest meant to advocate for the release of hostages still held by the terror organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In a one-pager of the bill obtained by Fox News Digital, Banks explicitly pointed to Soliman, along with the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackers, as examples of people who overstayed their visas. Soliman, in particular, came to the U.S. two years ago under a work visa from the Biden-led Department of Homeland Security. "The Boulder terrorist and 9/11 hijackers didn't sneak in, they overstayed visas," Banks said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "That's just as serious and just as dangerous. My bill cracks down on visa overstays with criminal penalties to stop threats before they happen." The latest data from the DHS from fiscal 2023 found that over 565,000 people overstayed their visas. Along with reclassifying those that overstay their visas, his legislation would make visa overstays a misdemeanor criminal offense punishable by a maximum of six months behind bars for first-time offenders, which would crank up to a maximum of two years for subsequent offenses. It would also raise civil penalties to between $500 and $1000, with penalties doubling for each subsequent offense. Currently, visa overstay penalties start at $50. Soliman on Sunday allegedly attacked the "Run for Their Lives" group, which was engaged in a peaceful protest advocating for the release of hostages held by Hamas. He allegedly used Molotov cocktails on the group, injuring eight people whose ages ranged from 52 to 88-years-old. One of the victims was a survivor of the Holocaust. Since then, Soliman has been charged with a federal hate crime, attempted murder, assault and other charges following what the FBI dubbed a "targeted terror attack." Combined, the charges against Soliman carry a total of 624 years.
New York Times
4 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Visa ‘Overstays' May Not Get Much Attention but They Are Common
The suspect in the Boulder, Colo., attack highlights a type of undocumented resident who has been largely absent from the heated political messaging on immigration: a person who arrives in the United States legally, on a tourist or other temporary visa, and remains after their permission to stay has lapsed. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national accused of carrying out the attack in Colorado, entered on a tourist visa in August 2022 that would have allowed him to remain in the country for six months once he presented his passport to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official at an airport on arrival. Only later did he apply for asylum. In the fiscal year 2023, the government estimated there were about 400,000 such overstays, according to an official report issued by the Department of Homeland Security. That year, about 2,400 Egyptians in the United States had overstayed their visas, or about 4 percent of all arrivals from that country, the report said. But overall, the numbers are significant, even if President Trump and Republicans in Congress tend to talk up migrants who cross the southwestern border to enter the United States or present themselves to border agents and request asylum. More than 40 percent of the undocumented immigrants in the country flew in with a visa, passed inspection at the airport and then stayed unlawfully, according to estimates by the Center for Migration Studies, a nonpartisan think tank. 'Scholars have long recognized that visa overstays constitute a significant share of the undocumented population,' said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration scholar at Cornell Law School. 'This segment has not received nearly as much attention as people entering illegally across the U.S.-Mexico border because they are simply not as visible,' he said. Identifying and tracking so-called visa overstays is extremely difficult, and they have not historically been a priority for enforcement. Visas issued to a wide range of foreigners, from camp counselors to tourists and business travelers, can result in overstays. Students who enter the United States for a summer program should leave when that program ends, change to another immigration status, or pursue another program of study to maintain their lawful presence. But in the past if they stayed beyond the time permitted, they would most likely not be detained unless they had committed a crime or were in police custody.
NHK
12-05-2025
- NHK
Vietnamese man arrested for allegedly stealing 'bonsai' from Tokyo shop
Tokyo police have arrested a Vietnamese man on suspicion of stealing "bonsai" potted trees from a botanical shop, possibly for sale abroad. The Metropolitan Police Department says Pham Minh Duc is suspected of taking 22 items from the shop in Tokyo's Akishima City in December last year. Some of the more expensive items are worth about 680 dollars each. Police say anti-theft wires were cut away and the total value of the 22 trees is nearly 4,500 dollars. The 30-year-old suspect is believed to have worked as a driver for a criminal group. Investigators think there were two other people who broke into the shop and another who gave them instructions. The suspect came to Japan as a technical trainee under a government-backed program, but had overstayed his visa by the time of the break-in. He reportedly told police that he was cash-strapped and had applied for a job as a driver that he found on social media. The horticultural art of "bonsai" is becoming popular outside Japan. Police suspect that the group has been continuously stealing bonsai items to sell them to overseas enthusiasts.
