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  1. #1
    caasduit's Avatar
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    call congres stop expansion of visa waiver program

    Stop the Expansion of the VISA WAIVER PROGRAM!
    Call Your Members of Congress Now!

    Following two weeks of preliminary discussions, the House and Senate will TODAY begin a conference committee on the 9/11 Commission bill (H.R.1/S.4). This 9/11 Commission bill, as passed in the Senate, contains an expansion of the Visa Waiver Program that is detrimental to national security. We need your help to get the provision expanding the Visa Waiver Program stripped from the bill!!!

    Passed by Congress in 1988, the Visa Waiver Program allows foreign visitors from 27 participating countries to enter the U.S. for 90 days without a visa. Over the years, however, critics have complained that the Visa Waiver Program is a threat to national security. They argue that the assumption that individuals are "friendly" to the United States because they have passports from certain, mainly Western European countries, is misplaced. In fact, several terrorists, including 9/11 conspirator Zarcarias Moussaoui, have boarded planes to the United States with passports issued by visa waiver countries. This is why the 9/11 Commission actually recommended restricting the program-not expanding it.

    Security experts agree that expanding the Visa Waiver Program is a bad idea. Clark Kent Ervin, former inspector general at the Homeland Security Department, told USA Today last December that the expansion of the visa waiver program was "a step in the wrong direction." He added, "We ought to be ending the visa-waiver program, not expanding it. There's a reason why terrorists are keen to obtain passports from visa-waiver countries: they don't have to undergo extensive security checks." The Government Accountability Office, in a report released in September 2006, found that "stolen passports from visa waiver countries are prized travel documents among terrorists, criminals and immigration-law violators."

    Nevertheless big business-in particular the travel and tourism industry-has been eager to expand the program to serve their interests. And, with their support, President Bush last November announced he would push to expand the program. In February, Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) offered an amendment to the 9/11 Commission bill to relax the eligibility requirements for the Visa Waiver Program and allow more countries to participate. That amendment was adopted, but then altered by Senator Feinstein to scale back the scope of the expansion. However, even with the changes made by Senator Feinstein, the 9/11 bill would still relax the requirements of the Visa Waiver Program and allow more countries to participate, increasing the risk to our national security.

    PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS TODAY AND URGE THEM TO STRIP ALL LANGUAGE FROM THE 9/11 COMMISSION BILL THAT WOULD EXPAND THE VISA WAIVER PROGRAM!! REMIND THEM THAT THE 9/11 COMMISSION RECOMMENDED RESTRICTING THE VISA WAIVER PROGRAM-NOT EXPANDING IT-BECAUSE IT PUTS OUR NATIONAL SECURITY AT RISK!

    If your Representatives or Senators say that they have not been assigned to the conference committee, please urge them to contact those members who have been assigned and urge them to strip the language form the bill. There should be no excuses for not taking action to protect our national security!!!

  2. #2
    Senior Member realbsball's Avatar
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    There is a ready made fax for this at NumbersUSA.

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