Speech #1100019479

For example. Romania. one of the "road map" countries. extends citizenship to many citizens of Ukraine or Moldova as a matter of course without prior residency requirements. Ukraine and Moldova are not slated to participate in the visa waiver program. and in fact. have visa rejection rates of 38.7 percent and 34.2 percent. respectively. Adding Romania Is like adding Ukraine and Moldova. How would their inclusion impact national security? Finally. this bill does not go far enough to protect U.S. borders. The bill requires the development of an air exit system. but it does nothing to track who comes and goes by way of our land and sea ports. It also requires the Department of Homeland Security to track how many people overstay their visas. but it does not require them to use this information to determine who can participate in the program. For example. even If we learn that one out of four Lithuanian visitors never returns to Lithuania when their visa expires. Lithuania could still participate in the Visa Waiver Program. Again. experts estimate that between 30 percent and 40 percent of those undocumented people living in the U.S. today are here because they ignored the time limits on their visa and just never went back home. At a time when this country is torn about how to handle the 12 million undocumented people currently living here. we must consider who plays by the rules when we talk about who participates in the program. If a high number of travelers from countries overstay their visas. then those countries should not be allowed the benefit of permitting their nationals to enter the U.S. without a background check and a consular Interview. The amendment I am proposing today offers a way to limit the expansion of the Visa Waiver Program in light of our immigration and national security concerns. The amendment I am offering would increase the visa rejection rate under the current law from 3 percent to 10 percent for countries that agree to these enhanced security measures. The result is that countries such as South Korea. 3.6 percent. Taiwan. 3.1 percent. Estonia. 7.1 percent. and the Czech Republic. 9.4 percent could be eligible to participate in the program provided they pass the security requirements this bill imposes. Then. once the U.S. has statistics on which foreign nationals regularly overstay their visa. the government should use those statistics to decide who can participate in the program. My amendment would require the Departments of Homeland Security and State. in consultation and with the approval of Congress. to set a meaningful overstay rate once they have that data. Then countries with a proven track recordthose with nationals who go home when they are supposed to go homecould be eligible for the program. The answer is not to entirely remove the visa rejection rate. 3 percent. as this bill does with no suitable replacement. but to enact a fair system across the board that recognizes that the screening of those who wish to come to our country is important. both for the security of the country. as well as to ensure that visitors do what their "visa waiver" providesand that is to return to their country of origin at the end of the 90day period.