President Obama is under fire from both liberals and conservatives over a new law that tightens who can travel to the U.S. under the visa-waiver program.
The Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act was folded into the year-end catchall spending bill and took effect Jan. 21. Civil rights advocates decry the GOP-authored law as heavy-handed. And now Republicans are unhappy with exemptions the Obama administration said it would allow.
The law bars anyone who has traveled to, or is a dual citizen of, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria from entering the United States without a visa. The visa-waiver program expedites travel for citizens of 38 countries that meet certain security requirements.
However, on Jan. 21, the Homeland Security and State departments said that people falling into those categories may still enter the country without first seeking a visa under certain circumstances, and that each exception would be considered on a case-by-base basis.
Possible exemptions are travelers who were in one of the barred countries for humanitarian reasons, or on behalf of an international organization or government, or were in Iran for “legitimate business-related purposes” after the nuclear deal took effect.
“The administration’s carve-out for Iran is a clear violation of the visa waiver law that the president himself signed,” said Doug Andres, spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, after the Wisconsin Republican raised the issue last week during his first meeting with Obama.
“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,” five top House Republicans wrote to Obama in protest letter dated Jan. 28.
“[W]e are deeply troubled because the exemptions announced by the administration were discussed, at length, during negotiations and were explicitly rejected by members of Congress,” the quintet, led by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., continued. Administration officials from Homeland Security, State and the Executive Office of the President “were intricately involved in the negotiation of this legislation,” the letter read.
Noting that the administration supported the final bill after it was revised, the group said lawmakers believed that the law would be implemented as written.
“[Y]our administration has chosen to read the narrow national security and law enforcement exceptions in such a broad way that it renders both the terms ‘national security’ and ‘law enforcement’ virtually meaningless,” they complained.
On the other side, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., last week circulated a letter asking Obama for additional exemptions from the new law.
“[W]e request that you take further action to guard against any harmful impacts to dual national American citizens, and those traveling to Iran,” the letter reads.
The letter says that Americans with dual citizenship in the affected countries are worried that the 38 countries participating in the visa waiver program will, in turn, now require them to seek visas before entering those countries.
“It is fundamental to our values as a nation that all citizens are treated equally and without regard to the birthplace of their family,” the letter reads. “A U.S. passport should confer to its holder the full benefits of citizenship.” Now, “some of those who hold U.S. passports could be treated differently due to their national origin and ancestry.”
A European Union official told the National Iranian American Council that if the U.S. law stands, by April, the EU will have to require visas from U.S. travelers to there for a year.
“[T]he commission shall adopt an act temporarily suspending the visa waiver for 12 months for all citizens of those third countries,” EU Deputy Chief of Mission Caroline Vicini wrote to the council.
Bipartisan bills that would repeal the restrictions on dual nationals are already pending in the House and Senate.
