Gingrey Introduces Legislation to Suspend Visa Waiver Program

Gingrey Introduces Legislation to Suspend Visa Waiver Program

Prohibits unchecked entry into the U.S. until terrorist screening is in place

U.S. Congressman Phil Gingrey this week introduced H.R. 5406, legislation to suspend the Visa Waiver program until a system based on biometric technology is in place to screen visitors. The Visa Waiver program currently allows visitors from 27 countries to enter the United States without applying for a visa, widely opening the door for unscreened terrorists to enter our country.

"Until we have the technical and human resources to secure our points of entry, we cannot allow visitors to enter the United States unscreened," said Gingrey. "The United Kingdom is one of our nation's closest allies, yet the London subway bombing showed us that terrorists operate in all countries. We can't welcome those with sinister intentions into the U.S. simply because their passports are British, French or Canadian."

H.R. 5406 would suspend the Visa Waiver program until America's entry-exit system has been strengthened to include a machine-readable, tamper-resistance biometric identification system capable of screening those using visa waivers to gain entry into the United States. The USA PATRIOT Act mandated the implementation of this type of system, but the program is not yet in place.

"We know terrorists like Zacharias Moussaui and Richard Reid exploited the Visa Waiver program to gain entry into the U.S.," said Gingrey. "We are putting all our citizens at risk when we allow terrorists to visit America under the cloak of this program. We need to suspend the Visa Waiver program until we are equipped to check the criminal and terrorist background of every foreign visitor to our country."

http://gingrey.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=44081