Congresswoman
Candice Miller has expanded her previous warnings about terrorists exploiting
the U.S. visa system to include the hot topic of keeping out Syrian refugees
due to potential links to ISIS.
For four
years Miller, chairman of the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, has
expressed the need for tightened enforcement of laws that regulate visa for
temporary U.S. residents. She held a committee hearing in March 2012 where
Department of Homeland Security officials were questioned about weaknesses that
result in some people overstaying their visas and remaining in the U.S. illegally
for months or years.

On Wednesday
Miller, a Harrison Township Republican and vice chair of the Committee on
Homeland Security, issued the following statement after participating in a
joint hearing with the House Committee on Foreign Affairs entitled: “The Rise
of Radicalism: Growing Terrorist Sanctuaries and the Threat to the U.S.
Homeland:”

First, I would like to thank our
troops who are currently fighting in the Middle East in the war against ISIS,
especially the servicemen and women who have been and are currently operating
A-10s in the region and who have been incredibly effective in-theater, even
destroying an ISIS oil truck convoy just this past weekend. Michigan’s 10th District
includes Selfridge Air National Guard Base, home to an A-10 fighter squadron
that just returned home from a 6-month deployment to the Middle East to help in
the fight against ISIS. I am proud of the platform’s success and the men and
women who operate it. 

Notwithstanding the amazing efforts
and success of our brave troops fighting overseas, the fact remains that this
Administration has failed to present and execute a comprehensive strategy to
defeat and destroy ISIS as promised when it initiated airstrikes last year.
Furthermore, it is my concern that this administration is underestimating the
capabilities of ISIS, especially considering (the president’s) insistence to
increase the number of Syrian refugees being admitted into the U.S.

While we are a compassionate nation,
we must recognize the serious threat posed by terrorists looking to exploit our
generosity by disguising themselves as refugees. It was just over 10 years ago,
when two young brothers came to this country to receive political asylum to escape
their war-torn country.  They seemed harmless, so we took them in. 
They repaid us for our compassion by placing pressure cooker bombs at the end
of the Boston Marathon, killing three Americans, including an 8-year-old boy,
and wounding hundreds of others.

Refugees should stay, defend their homeland
We need to get serious about the
threats we subject American citizens to when we blindly open our doors, and
this is especially true with Syrian refugees, who I believe we are currently
incapable of adequately screening.  Furthermore, we need to reconsider
helping Syrians flee when they are the ones who should be in Iraq and Syria
helping to defend and eventually rebuild their homelands. 

Additionally, we need to address the
instability across the Middle East that has provided safe haven for terrorist organizations
like ISIS to continue to train and radicalize foreign fighters. Today, we find
ourselves engaged in a different type of war – a guerilla war – where the enemy
isn’t clearly defined by uniform or allegiance and is becoming increasingly
difficult to identify and stop. To address these growing threats, we need to
recommit to our homeland security, national defense, and intelligence
capabilities.

Today, at a joint hearing on
terrorist sanctuaries, I heard from national security experts about ways we can
stop these foreign fighters before they reach U.S. soil. According to the
Homeland Security Task Force on Foreign Fighters, over 30,000 people from 100
countries have traveled to the Middle East to join ISIS. Many of these recruits
hold passports from European and other Western countries that participate in
the U.S. preclearance operations and/or our Visa Waiver Program, making these
foreign fighters only a flight away.


Visa legislation pending
“Over the last year, I have
championed legislation, the Preclearance Authorization Act of 2015 and the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act of 2015, to expand and
improve these security programs. These bills are critical to modernizing our
customs procedures, ensuring they can keep pace with the ever-evolving face of
terror.

Specifically, the preclearance
legislation would authorize the Department of Homeland Security to expand our
preclearance operations to other countries, essentially pushing out our
borders.

My Visa Waiver Program bill would authorize the Department of Homeland
Security to suspend a country’s participation in our Visa Waiver Program if or
when they fail to provide us with critical security information and
intelligence. While I believe more needs to be done to protect our Homeland
against threats, domestically and abroad, including suspending the Syrian
refugee resettlement program, I believe these bills are an important first
step.”