On Tuesday, the U.S. House voted to back the “Visa Waiver Program (VWP) Improvement Act” to improve security from terrorists coming over as tourists.
The bill from U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., passed on a 407-19 vote on Tuesday and now heads to the Senate. All the dissenting votes were cast by Democrats. U.S Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., was the only member of the Florida delegation to vote against the bill.
Under the proposal, anyone who as been to Iraq or Syria in the last five years will need a visa to enter the U.S. with the exception of government and military personnel. The bill also looks to cut down on the VWP which allows citizens of almost 40 countries to stay in the U.S. for up to 90 days without a visa.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., part of the GOP leadership as senior deputy majority whip, explained after the vote why he backed the bill.
“We must prevent foreign individuals who pose a potential terrorist threat from entering our country,” Ross said. “This legislation provides an important additional layer of security to protect our homeland and the lives of Americans in our communities from radical Islamic terrorism.
“This legislation further addresses the inexcusable vulnerabilities of the Visa Waiver Program by requiring participating countries to provide counterterrorism information and issue their citizens fraud-resistant ‘e-passports,’ as well as denying Visa Waiver Program status to those who have traveled to terrorist hotspots, like Iraq and Syria, since 2011,” Ross added. “The bill also authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to suspend a country from the Visa Waiver Program without prior notice if the country fails to comply with an agreement to share information regarding whether its citizens and nationals traveling to America pose a U.S. security threat.
“It is estimated that approximately 5,000 Europeans have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS, much of whom are from countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program,” Ross said in conclusion. “Many of these countries fail to provide the U.S. intelligence community with critical information needed to ensure those traveling under the Visa Waiver Program are not a threat to our nation. While my colleagues and I are doing what we can to protect our country from terrorists, the recent terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, should be an alarming wakeup call that the president must stop putting his personal political agenda before the nation's safety and immediately implement a strategy to defeat ISIS."
Like Ross, U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., pointed to the number of ISIS terrorists with Western passports as to why the bill was needed.
“Today there are more than 30,000 foreign fighters from over 100 countries in Syria and Iraq, comprising the largest convergence of jihadists in world history,” Crenshaw said. “Five thousand of them have Western passports, and we know that several of the ISIS attackers in Paris had Western passports, meaning they could have entered the United States without a visa. The Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act of 2015 adds additional critical layers of protection to the program to help prevent these fighters from entering the United States.
“Among those key improvements: member countries that fail to share counterterrorism information and INTERPOL criminal and terrorism databases are terminated from the program. Individuals who have traveled to terrorist hot spots like Syria and Iraq since 2011 or who have dual nationality in such countries are denied VWP status,” Crenshaw added. “Also required are annual threat assessments of high-risk VWP countries based on foreign fighter flow, visa denials, and terror database matches. In addition, suspension of high-risk countries from the program is allowed until threats pass. These improvements deserve immediate passage in the United States Senate and a signature from the president to ensure all possible steps are in place to identify and stop foreign fighters bound for the United States.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
