Legislation introduced to prevent terrorist travel

A partisan coalition of House representatives on Monday introduced a bill to strengthen the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) presence overseas.

The Expanding DHS Overseas Passenger Security Screening and Vetting Operations Act would require the DHS to issue a comprehensive five-year strategy and annual implementation plans to expand overseas operations in a risk-based manner, authorize an additional 2,000 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and 600 agriculture specialists to address existing domestic staffing shortages, create an additional layer of security by authorizing a program for CBP to work with foreign authorities and airlines to identify and prevent terrorist travel, and expand the Visa Security Program by growing its overseas presence and directing it to screen applicants against multiple government databases.

“As terrorist threats evolve and raise a persistent risk of attacks on America, the need to improve our traveler vetting and screening operations is increasingly urgent,” U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr (D-NJ), a cosponsor of the bill, said. “This bill expands our capability to identify and prevent threats before they reach our country so we can better protect and defend the American people.”

The bill was cosigned by Payne and U.S. Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), William R. Keating (D-MA), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY).