By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Tuesday, December 8, the US House of Representatives voted to pass HR158, the Visa Waiver Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act. US Representatives Martha Roby (R-Montgomery) and Bradley Byrne (R-Montrose) voted alongside a strong bi-partisan majority to support the bill. Roby said it was an important step to ensure dangerous people cannot access the United States via friendly nations by exploiting security gaps.
Congressman Bradley Byrne said in a statement, “The House just passed a bipartisan bill to strengthen our nation’s Visa Waiver Program and prevent terrorist from entering the United States. The Visa Waiver Program is an important tool that allows citizens of 38 countries easier access to the United States. The bill passed today will strengthen the program by denying Visa Waiver Program status to anyone who is a national or has recently visited Iraq or Syria. The bill also requires Visa Waiver Program countries to share counter-terrorism information with the United States, requires enhanced screening, and mandates that Visa Waiver Program countries issue fraud-resistant “e-passports.””
Congresswoman Martha Roby said, “Congress has a responsibility to update our laws to protect this nation, and this bill is one much-needed step in the right direction. Our visa arrangement with friendly nations is important, but we need to beef up security protocols and make sure our partner countries are playing by the rules. The Visa Waiver Improvement Act closes gaps that exist in the current system so authorities can better verify that those entering our country are not a threat.”
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) said, “Keeping the American people safe remains the House’s top priority. Today, we took a major step forward in our effort to prevent foreign terrorists from reaching our shores. This bipartisan bill addresses key vulnerabilities in the Visa Waiver Program by implementing more stringent background checks for foreign travelers and more frequent reviews of the program’s effectiveness. Moreover, it requires anyone who recently visited a country of concern to obtain a visa before traveling to the United States. I commend Chairman Miller for her persistent work on these commonsense reforms, which will help ensure we know exactly who is crossing our borders.”
The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens of 38 approved countries to travel to the US without getting a visa for 90 days, after passing a background and security check.
The wisdom of allowing this has been called into question after the recent terror activity across the globe. Congress hopes this act brings important revisions to the program to ensure terrorists cannot take advantage of the United States’ special relationship with friendly nations. The bill passed by the House enhances the program’s security with provisions to: terminate VWP countries if they fail to share counterterrorism information; terminate VWP countries if they fail to screen travelers against INTERPOL criminal and terrorism databases; deny VWP status to those who have gone to terrorist hotspots, like Syria and Iraq, since 2011 or those who have dual-nationality in such countries; require all VWP countries to issue and screen fraud resistant “e-passports” to everyone; require annual threat assessments of high-risk VWP countries based on foreign fighter flow, visa denials and terror database matches; and allow for suspension of high-risk countries until the threat has passed.
The bill passed the House by a vote of 407-19.
