Several of the 19 Islamic terrorists who hijacked commercial planes on September 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 Americans, were able to stay in the United States after overstaying their visas thanks to a loophole used by almost a million foreigners in 2022.
All of the September 11 terrorists arrived legally in the U.S. with 16 securing tourist visas while three obtained business and student visas. Eventually, on September 11, the terrorists executed attacks in New York City, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania that killed 2,977 Americans and have since left thousands more dead with illnesses related to the attacks.
Seven of the terrorists overstayed their visas either before the attacks or at the time of the attacks. Failures in federal immigration enforcement ensured that none of the seven were deported from the U.S. before the attacks were carried out.
Those terrorists who overstayed their visas are:
- Hani Hasan Hanjour of Saudi Arabia
- Nawaf al-Hamzi of Saudi Arabia
- Mohamed Atta of Egypt
- Satam al-Suqami of Saudi Arabia
- Waleed al-Shehri of Saudi Arabia
- Marwan al-Shehhi of the United Arab Emirates
- Ahmed al-Ghamdi of Saudi Arabia
9/11 Hijackers (Photo via DOJ)
Today, the visa overstay loophole used by several of the 9/11 terrorists remains more open than ever, according to some experts.
In 2022, the last year the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published such figures, more than 850,000 foreign nationals who arrived legally in the U.S. on visas had overstayed those visas.
“A significant number of new illegal immigrants … were admitted legally on a temporary visa or under the visa waiver program and then did not leave the country when the time limit expired,” Center for Immigration Studies Director of Research Steven Camarota testified to Congress earlier this year:
DHS for Fiscal Year 2022 showed 850,000 foreign visitors overstayed in that year. The total overstay rate for 2022 was 3.67 percent, which is more than double the rate of recent years. Of course, not all of these individuals stay long term, and there is always some number of people who leave the country but whose departure was not properly recorded. Still, the current level of overstays is much higher than in 2021 and in the years before Covid-19. [Emphasis added]
Visa overstays account for about half of the nation’s illegal alien population.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
