Speech #1100022875

The American people are probably shocked that these offenses are not already on the books. Support for this amendment will send a strong message that this country has not forgotten how September 11. 2001. changed this world and that we will do everything in our power to prosecute terrorists and those who support them. A second key provision in this amendment deals with closing a loophole in the law that allows suspected terrorists to stay in the United States after their visas have been revoked on terrorist grounds. In June of 2003. a GAO report revealed that suspected terrorists can and. in fact. do stay in the United States after their visas have been revoked because they are suspected of terrorist activity. After the loophole came to light. the GAO found that more than 100 people were granted visas that were later revoked because there was suspected terrorist activity. Under current law. decisions to approve or deny visas by consular officers are nonreviewable and deemed final. However. if a visa is approved and the individual enters the United States and then the visa is revoked while that person is still in the United States. the revocation decision is reviewed by the U.S. courts. Giving an alien on U.S. soil the ability to appeal a revocation decision when it is based on terroristsuspected grounds virtually annihilates the effectiveness of this antiterrorism tool. To begin. visa revocations are not taken lightly. according to the State Department. A State Department spokesman made this comment: A consular officer does not have the authority to revoke a visa based on suspected ineligibility. or based on derogatory information that is insufficient to support an ineligibility finding. A consular revocation must be based on an actual finding that the alien is ineligible for a visa. In addition. each alien gets the opportunity to explain their case. so once a consular officer notifies an alien of his intent to revoke. the consular officer must give the alien the opportunity to show why the visa should not be revoked. I ask my colleagues to recall the 9/11 Commission Reports finding on our flawed visa policies. We know that the 19 hijackers used 364 aliases and lied on their visa applications when they applied for 23 and obtained 22 visas. Allowing aliens to remain on U.S. soil with revoked visas is a national security concern. and this amendment will close this loophole in the law so they cannot do it again. A third issue this amendment deals with is the detention of deportable aliens. The Supreme Court has limited the period of detention of deportable aliens to 6 months after a final order of removal is issued. As a result. when the difficulty in removing an alien lasts up to 6 months. the U.S. Government has to release the alien into the public. We have all heard the deplorable stories of some of the horrific acts committed by deportable aliens who were released into the United States after they were not removed from the country within the 6month limit. This amendment would allow the Government to keep these aliens in custody until they can be removed and prevent them from harming American citizens. I want to close by thanking my colleague from Texas for the work he has done on this amendment and his effort in making our country safer.