Jim Sensenbrenner: “Madam Speaker, since September 11, we have learned how deeply vulnerable our immigration system is to exploitation by…”

“Madam Speaker, since September 11, we have learned how deeply vulnerable our immigration system is to exploitation by aliens who wish to harm Americans. H.R. 3525 makes needed changes to our immigration laws to fight terrorism and to prevent such exploitation. I will outline some of the bill's most significant provisions. Most importantly, by October 2003, this bill requires the Attorney General and the Secretary of State to issue machine readable, tamper-resistant visas that use standardized biometric identifiers. This will allow immigration inspectors to determine whether a visa properly identifies the visa holder. Similarly, aliens seeking to enter the United States under the visa waiver program with passports issued after October 2003 must possess tamper-resistant, machine readable passports with standardized biometric identifiers. The bill also requires the Attorney General to enter into a data system the identification numbers of stolen U.S. and foreign passports. Our military recently found blank European and United States passports in the caves of Afghanistan after the al Qaeda terrorists fled. We must ensure that passports and other documents presented to our inspectors are not counterfeit and are being used by the aliens to whom they were issued.”