FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2011
Contact: Tom Pfeifer, (202) 225-5811
Statement of Chairman Elton Gallegly
Hearing on HR 1741, The Secure Visas Act
WASHINGTON, DC—The Departments of State and Homeland Security both have responsibility when it comes to admitting foreign visitors to the United States. Department of States’ Consular Affairs is responsible for issuing visas, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement in DHS operates the Visa Security Program in designated high-risk consular posts overseas.
Following the tragic events of September 11, 2001, there was a great deal of discussion in Congress with respect to moving the visa issuance responsibilities from the State Department to DHS. The objective was to treat visa issuance as a law enforcement and national security function, rather than a foreign relations tool.
Rather than transferring these functions to DHS in their entirety, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 split the visa functions. DHS now writes the regulations regarding visa issuance and assigns staff to consular posts abroad as part of the Visa Security Program to conduct investigations on visa applications. However, the State Department still has the responsibility to ultimately issue the visas.
Unfortunately, the Visa Security Program has not expanded nearly as quickly as expected. The Government Accountability Office reports that ICE has not implemented its 5-year expansion plan or even covered all high-risk posts. Therefore, Chairman Smith has introduced legislation, the Secure Visas Act, that requires DHS to maintain Visa Security Units (VSU) at the 19 consular posts that already have them and expand these units to the posts that ICE has designated as “highest-risk.” Some of these “highest-risk” countries include Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Morocco, Lebanon, and Algeria. VSUs are critical for national security: at VSU-staffed consular posts, 100% of applicants receive additional screening; at non-VSU posts, fewer than 2% of the applicants get extra screening.
The actions of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who attempted to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and kill over 200 innocent people on December 25, 2009, refocused attention on the responsibilities of the Departments of State and Homeland Security with respect to visa revocation.
Adulmutallab was traveling on a valid visa issued to him in June 2008. The State Department acknowledged that his father came into the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, on November 19, 2009, and told officials with the State Department and CIA that his son had vanished and expressed concern that he had “fallen under the influence of religious extremists in Yemen.” According to news reports, the father’s visit with the U.S. authorities was arranged by Nigerian intelligence officials, who his father had contacted after receiving a call from his son that made him fear that his son might be planning a suicide mission in Yemen.
Despite the father’s visit and the warning he conveyed, the State Department made no effort to revoke the visa.
The case of Abdullamatub demonstrates that clearly, something went drastically wrong.
In addition to expanding the Visa Security Program, Chairman Smith’s bill provides law enforcement with the tools it needs to revoke visas by clarifying that the Secretary of DHS has the explicit power to refuse or revoke a visa where the Secretary “determines that such refusal or revocation is necessary or advisable in the security interests of the United States.”
Under current law, the DHS Secretary can ask the State Department to revoke a visa. The DHS Secretary, however, only exercised this revocation once in 2005. The State Department is the entity that normally revokes visas.
Furthermore, this bill makes clear that revocation of a visa is not subject to judicial review. H.R. 1741 simply applies the same review standard to visa revocations that is currently applied to visa denials.
Ultimately, this bill provides DHS with the necessary tools to prevent potential terrorists or other criminals from entering our country and doing our citizens great harm.
Related content: Key Issue: Illegal Immigration; Key Issue: Terrorism.
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