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Stranded passengers await the departure of their flights at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport Dec. 18, 2010. Senate Democrats are proposing changes in travel documents from Europe to increase security.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)
As the House voted<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Thursday to place more restrictions on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>accepting Syrian refugees, Senate Democrats are proposing to tighten requirements for the 20 million travelers who visit each year without visas from European and other friendly countries.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is drafting legislation to require in-person interviews at a U.S. embassy or consulate overseas for travelers from 38 countries where the U.S. doesn’t now require visas -- if<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the traveler visited Syria or Iraq during the previous five years.
Under Feinstein’s proposal, all travelers from those<span style="color: Red;">*</span>so-called visa-waiver countries would be required to have passports with biometric information such as fingerprints and an e-chip to discourage fraud.
“I have supported it,” Feinstein said of the visa-waiver program. “But I also believe it is the soft underbelly of our national-security policies.”
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 19: Senate Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, holds her passport Nov. 19, 2015, while calling for better documentation of travelers from countries that don't require visas to visit the U.S.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Getty Images)
The congressional debate on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>foreign travelers comes in the aftermath of gun and bomb attacks in Paris that killed 129 people on Nov. 13. One attacker held a Syrian passport, sparking fears about refugees pouring out of that war-torn country. But most of the attackers were French or Belgian, raising concerns about how easy it is for potential terrorists<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to travel between the U.S. and Europe.
USA TODAY
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Feinstein<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was joined in announcing her<span style="color: Red;">*</span>legislation by her party’s leadership in the chamber, including Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. She<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., has agreed to co-sponsor the legislation, which she plans to introduce after Thanksgiving.
But the travel industry opposed tampering with the visa-waiver program, which it described as secure and an economic benefit.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Travelers from visa-waiver countries stayed an average 17.5 days and spent nearly $4,700 each, for a total of $190 billion in economic activity last year, according to the U.S. Travel association.
"It would be a grave error by Congress to scapegoat a successful program — without as much as a hearing — that had zero to do with a recent tragedy,” said Jonathan Grella, the association's executive vice president.
Under a program created in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>1986, the U.S. now has agreements with 38 countries that allows visits for up to 90 days without a visa, including most of Europe, Australia, Japan and South Korea. Those countries have agreed to share information about known or suspected terrorists and criminals, to promptly report lost or stolen passports to Interpol and to screen travelers against law-enforcement and terrorist databases under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).
Travel-industry officials contend the ESTA review is more thorough than a face-to-face interview required for a visa<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at a consulate. Passports issued since Oct. 26, 2006, must be electronic and have digital photographs, under an international agreement.
But not all countries require fingerprints with their electronic passports that Senate Democrats are seeking. For example, Ireland doesn't require fingerprints. Denmark issues 10-year passports and began including fingerprints in 2012. France has 10-year passports and began including fingerprints in 2009.
Some 45 million travel documents are circulating worldwide on the black market, according to Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. By requiring biometric information as part of the passport, Feinstein said it would reduce fraud.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., recited the case of an Algerian, Ahmed Ressam, who arrived in Canada on a fake French passport. He<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was detained on New Year’s Eve 1999 by a suspicious border guard while trying to enter the U.S.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Ressam’s car was full of explosives that authorities said he intended to use at Los Angeles International Airport.
Cantwell would like to check a traveler's background against watch lists using the biometric identification before the traveler arrives in the U.S.
“If they are making up new identifies, we have to have the ability with good technology to track that and track them in their travels,” she said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“We want the facial recognition and fingerprint scans to happen. And we want the data information to be shared by all countries, so that we know where people have been traveling."
Grella, of the U.S. Travel Association, urged caution in changing the visa-waiver program. Congress should pursue other strategies instead, such as building better watch lists with other governments, setting up more customs and immigration screening aboard to screen travelers before they arrive in the U.S. and scrutinize travelers with dual passports, Grella said.
"We understand the political urge to act after the fact to prove that one is 'on it,' but we urge Congress to carefully consider how to tweak the (visa waiver program) to respond to the threat, rather than engaging in security theater,” Grella said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span> "Keep calm. And then legislate."
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