Radicalized individuals from Belgium and other countries can enter the United States without visas because of the hugely flawed waiver program and due to the Obama administration drastically cutting back on deporting violators, Rep. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.
"The visa waiver reform, this is something we have been perusing — and the administration has brushed us off at every turn," the Florida Republican told
The Washington Free Beacon.
The program does not require more extensive background checks from individuals traveling from such terrorism hotspots as Belgium — particularly in Molenbeek, a town near Brussels that has been identified as a key training area for jihadists, DeSantis said.
"It's the case that if those folks are citizens of Belgium they qualify for the visa waiver program and can hop on a plane and get here," he told the Free Beacon. "Clearly, that is not adequate given what happened."
The White House "even takes the position that it's safer to allow someone to come in on a visa waiver than make them get one. It's kind of crazy.
"You're not going to be able to have intelligence on everyone there because there are so many potential recruits," he said. "It's a clear vulnerability."
The Obama administration has also become more lax in arresting and deporting those who overstay their visas, DeSantis said. That could lead a radicalized person to disappear into the United States to carry out an attack.
"There's no enforcement once they get here," DeSantis told the Free Beacon. "Hundreds of thousands of people come over and then overstay" their visas.
"You are not going to be removed under current policy under this administration."
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