Phil Gingrey: “I believe that the Border Protection, Antiterterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 needs to address a…”

“I believe that the Border Protection, Antiterterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 needs to address a loophole in our immigration system. I have introduced this amendment which suspends, not cancels, but suspends temporarily the Visa Waiver Program until the machine-readable and tamper-resistant biometric identification system mandated by the PATRIOT Act to be the cornerstone of the entry-exit system is fully operational. Until we have the technical and human resources to secure our points of entry, we cannot afford to allow visitors to come to the United States without prescreening them prior to arrival. Despite the fact that the United Kingdom is one of our Nation's closest friends and allies, the London subway bombings earlier this year were executed in large part by British citizens with known ties to terrorism. We know that terrorists like Zacharias Moussaui and Richard Reid exploited the Visa Waiver Program to travel to the United States. Do we want individuals like these to fly to America unchecked and to attack our subway system in the name of terrorist groups like al Qaeda under the cloak of the Visa Waiver Program? Do we want French citizens with Islamofascist mindsets to get a free pass through Customs? If not, we need to suspend this program until we are equipped to check the criminal and terrorist backgrounds of every visitor who arrives at a point of entry and to confirm the identity of each visitor using biometric identifiers.…”