The Senate has not voted on either measure. The chamber voted 407-19 in favor of the legislation, with all of those voting “no” being Democrats.
Advertisement
The U.S. government separately is making a series of changes to its visa waiver program to screen travelers more closely from 38 countries who can enter the United States without visas. He said he supports some parts of this bill, including requiring all travelers to be checked against INTERPOL databases, using fraud-resistant e-passports with biometric information to protect against false identities, and strengthening background check procedures and information-sharing.
It would also require countries participating in the program, which include much of Western Europe, to share information with Washington about terror suspects.
The House of Representatives passed legislation that would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to strengthen the us visa waiver program. The program will not be available to nationals from Iraq, Syria and other countries under security watch, as well as to those people who have traveled to these countries from March 2011. The legislation was supported by the White House.
The bill would allow the US Department of Homeland Security to suspend any participating country from the programme that did not provide terrorism-related information to the US in a timely manner.
The House is poised to crack down on visa-free travel to the US, even from friendly nations like Belgium and France.
The U.S. admits about 20 million people a year under the program, which allows them to stay for up to 90 days.
After the attacks in Paris, and closer to home in San Bernardino, California, lawmakers across the country want to keep people safe. But the program has been used on at least a few occasions in the past by terrorist plotters, including Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber” who attempted to ignite a bomb while flying from Paris to Miami in December 2001. “Since the Visa Waiver Program functions on reciprocity, I am also concerned that this bill will trigger restrictions from other countries on travel for Iraqi, Syrian, Sudanese, and Iranian Americans”.
U.S. officials say about 5,000 Europeans, including many from VWP nations, have travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight with extremist groups such as the so-called Islamic State and pose a risk to the US. “Our focus should be on terrorism, not just country or origin”, he said.
Advertisement
The Senate may consider the bill as well although Republican leaders have not said when that would occur.
