Terrorist Loophole

NumbersUSA, one of the point organizations in the fight against illegal immigration, is warning of legislation in Congress that would exploit a huge loophole for terrorists in the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007.

Right now, the Visa Waiver program designates certain countries around the world as "friendly", which means they don't really screen travelers from those countries. The terrorists know this, and recruit people from those "friendly" nations (i.e. the Shoe Bomber from Great Britain) to come to the U.S. and overstay their visa in order to perpetrate terrorist acts or to prepare for such acts.

The key parts of the current legislation are House version H.R. 1 and Senate version S. 4. Both of these added a provision that would expand the Visa Waiver loophole rather than reduce it, even though a recent GAO (government accountability office) report found significant weaknesses in the existing program.

Representative Lamar Smith (Rep, TX) is the only member of the conference committee discussing the legislation that has vocally opposed this measure.

Why would any Congressperson support this loophole? Tourism. With fewer restrictions, people will be more likely to visit the U.S. from these "friendly" countries, thus bringing in more tourism revenue. While that's a fine thing, it's not the most important thing. After all, there's nothing like a real terrorist attack to put a damper on the tourism business.

The final bill is expected to come out of committee soon, possibly today, so call your Representatives and Senators TODAY and tell them to oppose this legislation!

There's my two cents.