Senators to propose legislation to restrict visa waivers for Europeans

Source: Hardball with Chris Matthews MSNBC

We just saw another example of Congress rushing in to introduce meaningless legislation in hopes of placating the nervous American public. Tonight on Hardball Republican Senator Jeff Flake said that he and Diane Feinstein will introduce a bill tomorrow which will modify the current visa waiver rule. (At present citizens of 39 countries - mostly European - are not now required to get a visa in order to travel to the US.). This new legislation would require any citizen of these countries who had travelled to Syria or Iraq in the past five years to now obtain a visa in order to travel to the U.S. Presumably this would let us examine people whose travel patterns made them suspect before permitting them to come here.

The only problem: Nothing prevents the potential 'suspect' traveller from declaring his/her old passport lost or stolen and obtaining a brand new, fresh passport. There is then no way to know whether the individual visited Iraq or Syria (or anywhere else). It's a meaningless, feel-good gesture designed to show the constituency that 'Congress is on top of things' when, in fact all it does it create more red tape and cost without contributing in any way, shape of form to our security. Business as usual for Congress.

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