WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today introduced legislation to close a loophole in U.S. visa policy that allows foreigners to remain in the United States after they have had their visa revoked. Grassley introduced the legislation as the nation works to strengthen its visa issuance procedures in the wake of the attempted Christmas Day bombing. A companion bill in the House of Representatives was introduced by Congressman Lamar Smith.
The loophole was discovered after a Government Accountability Office report revealed that if an alien's visa is revoked on terrorism grounds after the alien reaches U.S. soil, it isextremely difficult, if not impossible, to deport the suspected terrorist.
“Current law handicaps our law enforcement and makes it nearly impossible to deport apotential terrorist if they already made it to the United States. This is an urgent and logical next step given the FBI’s directive to review all terrorist databases to determine if any ‘known or suspected terrorists’ currently have a valid visa,” Grassley said. “It only makes sense that we do everything possible to keep terrorists from running to the steps of our country’s courts, taking advantage of the system, and exploiting our laws.”
Following the attempted Christmas Day bombing, President Obama ordered a review of the U.S. watch list system. One of the actions required of the Department of State was to “review visa issuance and revocation criteria and processes.” The President also required the FBI to “conduct a thorough review of Terrorist Screening Database holdings and ascertain current visa status of all known and suspected terrorists, beginning with the No Fly list.” It’s expected that the FBI, in conjunction with the Departments of State and Homeland Security, will be reassessing any visas provided to potential terrorists and revoking visas to those who should not be allowed to enter the United States. Should these departments determine that visas must be revoked for individuals already on U.S. soil, such individual could be allowed to block deportation using our court system. A change in law is needed so that people who wish to do Americans harm are deported, and our nation’s intelligence is protected.
The bill would treat visa revocations similar to visa denials because the right of that person to be in the United States is no longer valid. If an individual is denied a visa by the consular officer, there’s no judicial review of that decision. The Grassley bill applies the same standard for individuals on U.S. soil who should not have been granted a visa, limiting their rights to judicial review of such a decision.
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