The Inspector General of the Department of
Homeland Security released an extensive report on this issue. One of the
findings caught the attention of the legislators in the Congress, the
finding that an international traveler was caught before entering the
country using the lost passport of a person of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) country
and that the current operation of VWP raised the issue of a potential
security loophole.
The VWP started receiving a close review even before 9/11
by the Legacy INS, but this OIG report is expected to affect the future of
this program.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
urged the Bush
administration to make major changes to a visa policy that lets citizens from
certain countries travel to the United States without visas. The
senator said a new report by the Homeland Security Department's inspector
general found "serious and pervasive problems" with the so-called visa-waiver
program that pose grave security risks.
Feinstein
said the Senate Judiciary Committee should convene oversight hearings to
determine possible solutions to the problems and, if lawmakers cannot find
remedies, decide whether to temporarily suspend the program. She also
highlighted recent reports of lost and stolen passports from visa-waiver
countries, arguing that the documents give terrorists an easy means to illegally
enter the country.
But
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said one individual from a visa-waiver
nation recently was caught attempting to use a stolen passport.
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