Rep. Michael McCaul introduced a bill to tighten the United States' visa waiver program, putting a moratorium on bringing Syrian refugees to the United States and ensure that they not be allowed to migrate until there are assurances that they will not pose a security threat to Americans.
"It will go before the Rules Committee tonight and should be on the House floor tomorrow," the Texas Republican, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said Wednesday on
Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program. "The intelligence community has to sign off on this as well."
McCaul said his legislation will tighten the vetting of incoming refugees, while submitting them to the most strict security tests in history, reports the Associated Press. Currently, the waiver program allows citizens of countries that participate, especially in Europe, to travel to the United States without a visa.
He told Fox News' Bill Hemmer Wednesday that he has met with Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and FBI Director James Comey, and came away learning that the United States does not have the necessary information to vet refugees fleeing Syria.
"They don't really know who they are," said McCaul. "I think that's the bottom line. Until we get assurances these individuals are properly vetted, I think it would pose a risk to our national security to bring them into this country."
Part of the issue is that in Europe, "you are not checked against a watch list," said McCaul. "The very minimum of putting people on a watch list, Europe doesn't do that. That's how [alleged Paris mastermind Abdelhamid] Abaaoud got back into Syria and back to Europe. Europe needs to change the law and use a watch list like we do in the United States."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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