Thread: VISA Waiver Program

Congress Poised to Make it EASIER for Terrorists to Enter the U.S.!

Call Your Members of Congress and Object!

The House and Senate have just finished conference committee on the 9/11 Commission bill (H.R.1/S.4) and both bodies are expected to vote on the final language within the next day or two.

Despite all our efforts, the bill in its final form still contains the expansion of the Visa Waiver Program, allowing nationals from more and more countries to enter the U.S. without a visa. This expansion is a threat to national security and is an insult to the American people as the 9/11 Commission actually recommended RESTRICTING the program, NOT expanding it!

Please call your Representatives and Senators and URGE them to vote NO on the conference committee report for the 9/11 Commission 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. However, over time 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.

Recent developments from national security and intelligence communities underscore the fact that the United States more than ever before needs to be cautious about who enters the country. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board last week, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff suggested that al-Qaeda is stepping up its capabilities and that these developments have given him "a gut feeling that we are in a period of increased vulnerability."

A National Intelligence Estimate released last week echoed Chertoff's concerns, warning that a terrorist attack in the United States is imminent. Following the NIE release, Director of National Intelligence Vice Admiral Mike McConnell said on NBC's Meet the Press that the intelligence community is "watching [al-Qaeda] train and recruit, and their effort is to put someone inside the United States."

Finally, a Transportation Security Administration bulletin leaked to the press this week details incidents about individuals attempting to load planes with suspicious items that appear to be mock improvised explosive devices. According to the report, similar "dry runs" were employed by terrorist groups before the September 11th attacks and the recent London bombings.

These developments illustrate exactly why the Visa Waiver Program is detrimental to our national security and how expanding the program only increases the threat. It is even more of an insult that Congress is planning to expand the program in the 9/11 Commission bill, which is supposed to implement the unfulfilled recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. PLEASE call your Representatives and Senators and urge them to vote NO on the conference committee report. Tell them they should not vote for it until the language expanding the Visa Waiver Program has been stripped out!!!!

rec'd from FAIR by email

Sad day in American history! And what proof do they need to enter the United States??? Why is our government so stupid???

Originally Posted by BorderLegionnaire

Sad day in American history! And what proof do they need to enter the United States??? Why is our government so stupid???

Stupid is as Stupid does!!!!

"Stupid is as Stupid does!!!!"

FOREST GUMP HAD MORE SENSE THEN THE GOVERNMENT!!!!!!!!!

This Congress will never learn. The proof is right in front of them and they go in the opposite direction. Typical.