House Passes Measure To Tighten Controls On Visa-Free Travel to US

The House voted overwhelming on Tuesday to tighten travel into the USA under the so-called “visa waiver” program, which requires visas from anyone who has traveled to Iraq, Syria, Iran and the Sudan in the last five years.

The majority of the attackers in Paris were either Belgian, or Frenchman. “We know thousands of radicalized people with Western passports have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight with terrorists groups like ISIS, and the House is taking decisive action to close security gaps these foreign fighters could exploit”.

Critics say the bill broadly strips visa waiver privileges from all Syrian and Iraqi nationals.

Castro said on Tuesday, “Today I joined my colleagues in the House to pass legislation that addresses potential vulnerabilities in our current Visa Waiver Program and helps prevent individuals who pose a threat to our safety from entering our borders”. Both bills give the secretary of Homeland Security the authority to take countries out of the waiver system. Belgium and France, home to most of the perpetrators of last month’s Paris attacks, are among the participating countries.

Because of the bipartisan support in the House, chances are greater it could be included in the omnibus spending package lawmakers are working to complete before a possible government shutdown on Friday.

The proposed Bill also contains provisions under which United States can remove countries from the visa waiver program if they do not cooperate with law enforcement and the intelligence community. Those who use the program are screened less stringently, although they are checked against American databases.

“We can not nor should we simply shut our doors to the world if we want to continue to lead the world”, number two House Democrat Steny Hoyer said in support of the bill.

Twenty million visitors annually use the program, which allows them to stay in country for up to 90 days and provides a boon to the United States economy.

Tashfeen Malik did not enter the country under the visa waiver program, although President Obama falsely implied she did in his nationally televised speech Sunday night. That program is already being reviewed by the Homeland Security Department.

Washington, D.C.-Congressman Tom Marino (R-PA) voted in favor of H.R. 158 – the Visa Waiver Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015 which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 407-19. “There are however additional requirements created to ensure that those who come in this country are in fact not a risk to this country”, Hoyer said.