| WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) joined Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today (Jan. 22, 2010) to introduce legislation to close critical security gaps in our current visa screening process, which, had they been addressed prior, could have prevented Nigerian terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from boarding the plane to Detroit Christmas day. Sen. Cornyn’s legislation is co-sponsored by five other Senators.
This legislation would:
- Require the Department of Homeland Security to deploy personnel to conduct on-site visa reviews in high-volume visa posts and high-risk countries
- Clarify that DHS has the ultimate authority to revoke any visas in the interests of our national security
- Require updates to law enforcement and consular databases of revoked visas
Commented Roberts: “We saw again on Christmas Day that these terrorists have not stopped targeting our country. We need to put in place better safeguards to prohibit future breaches of security. This legislation would allow DHS to revoke a visa based on security interests, resulting in improved communication and security policies to better protect Americans.” Go Back |
