There are at least six million illegal aliens who arrived in the United States the same way seven of the 9/11 Islamic terrorist hijackers came to the country: by overstaying a visa.
All 19 terrorists from 9/11 — who murdered nearly 3,000 Americans and injured more than 6,000 others in 2001 — arrived in the U.S. legally, with 16 obtaining tourist visas and three others obtaining business and student visas.
In total, seven of the 19 terrorists overstayed their visas at some point either before the 9/11 attacks or at the time of the attacks and were supposed to be deported, but never were.
Those terrorists who overstayed their visas include:
- Hani Hasan Hanjour from Saudi Arabia
- Nawaf al-Hamzi from Saudi Arabia
- Mohamed Atta from Egypt
- Satam al-Suqami from Saudi Arabia
- Waleed al-Shehri from Saudi Arabia
- Marwan al-Shehhi from the United Arab Emirates
- Ahmed al-Ghamdi from Saudi Arabia
Eighteen years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the loophole where legal immigrants become illegal aliens after overstaying their visas remains fully open, with at least 4.5 to six million foreign nationals living in the U.S. who should have been deported after their visas expired, according to Pew Research Center.