Today, Rep. John R. Carter (R-TX-31) voted to further secure our homeland by supporting the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act.

“I will not stand by and allow these terrorists to infiltrate our homeland. We must take the fight to them, to their home base, and destroy their operations. We cannot, and I will not, allow them to bring the fight to American soil. That is why I am in support of stricter regulations on our visa program and blocking refugees from Syria and Iraq from coming to America.

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP), created in 1986, allows people  from 38 participating countries to more easily travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days, and allows Americans to travel overseas through a streamlined process. Instead of going to a U.S. consulate or embassy, citizens of participating countries must provide detailed background information that is then screened against U.S. security systems.

H.R. 158, the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act, would increase the security of the program in several key ways.  The bill: 

• Requires all travelers utilizing the VWP to have fraud-resistant electronic passports;
• Requires VWP partner countries to expeditiously report news of lost or stolen passports to INTERPOL;
• Enhances screening by requiring that all VWP partner countries check travelers against INTERPOL databases;
• Provides the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with additional tools for ensuring that partner countries comply with the program’s information sharing requirements and allows DHS to suspend program countries that are not in compliance;
• Expands the background information that VWP travelers submit as part of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization; and
• Requires more frequent threat assessments of VWP countries to determine whether they pose a high risk to the national security of the United States. 

For more information, please visit https://homeland.house.gov/visa-waiver-program/.

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