House Republican leaders sent a letter to President Obama Thursday demanding answers about his plan to allow some people who have traveled to countries linked to terrorism to then travel to the United States without applying for a visa.
Republicans accused Obama of making “unilateral changes to the law” by saying it would consider visa-free U.S. visits for journalists, humanitarian workers and others who have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria, which are considered hotbeds of terrorism.
“These exemptions from the travel restrictions were not provided for in the law, are contrary to congressional intent and are in breach of the agreement we reached with members of your administration,” lawmakers told Obama in a letter signed by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, D-Va., and others.
The letter was sent a week after the administration began implementing the “Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015,” which passed the House overwhelmingly with bipartisan support.
The legislation, which is now law, prohibits visa-free entry into the United States by any foreigner who has traveled to one of the four countries, even if they are citizens of a country on the current visa waiver list.
But the Obama administration said it will waive the visa requirement for some of those travelers. In addition to journalists and humanitarian workers, those with “legitimate business-related purposes” for traveling to Iran could be exempt from having to apply for a visa.
Republicans say the exemptions are far too broad.
McCarthy and the other signers of the letter argue within it that Congress expressly prohibited such exemptions when the two branches were negotiating the inclusion of the law within a measure to fund the federal government, which passed in December. The GOP has also said the administration is going against an agreement that Congress and the White House struck on how to implement the law.
“These actions are inappropriate and violate not only the agreement we reached but the law itself,” Republicans wrote.
They are demanding DHS provide monthly updates on every individual who qualifies for an exemption.
“A simple reporting of the number of waivers granted during a calendar or fiscal year is not acceptable and contrary to congressional intent,” they wrote. “We expect, at a minimum, the name and nationality of the foreign traveler, the explicit, detailed national security or law enforcement justification for granting the waiver, the number of individuals seeking authorizations who fall into each of the categories created by [DHS] Secretary [Jeh] Johnson and Secretary [of State John] Kerry, the number of individuals in each category for whom the waiver was used and the number of individuals in each category for whom the waiver authority was not used.”
The GOP lawmakers also demand Obama provide by Feb. 12 all documents that relate to the administration’s legal justification for providing the exemptions.
