Rand Paul: Stop visas from 'high-risk' countries

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has introduced legislation that would suspend visas for visitors, students and refugees from countries that have “significant jihadist movements” in response to last weekend’s terror attacks in Paris.

The Republican presidential hopeful called the move “dramatic” because it would not just exclude refugees from entering the United States, but said the halt in visas is needed until an entry-exit program is completed and until “we have a better handle on who is currently here and what we’re doing about those who have either illegally entered or overstayed their visas.” Paul said his proposal would block visitors from about 30 countries.

Visas would be suspended until the Department of Homeland Security certifies:

Immigrants from “high-risk countries” already admitted into the U.S. have been fingerprinted and screened;

enhanced security measures are in place to screen future applicants;

and the entry-exit program is 100 percent complete and a tracking system is put in place to catch those who overstay.

The proposal would also impose a 30-day waiting period for visas from all other countries. Travelers would be subjected to a background check, unless the applicant has been approved through the Global Entry program.

“When something like this happens, there should be a wake-up call,” he said in a phone interview with the Register. “The wake-up call shouldn’t be hey, let’s go get into another war in the Middle East. The wake-up call should be let’s defend our country from letting people come in who would attack us.”

Paul referenced the Boston Marathon bombing, which was executed by refugees linked to radical Islam, and an incident in his hometown of Bowling Green, Ky., where refugees from Iraq were caught trying to buy Stinger missiles from an undercover agent. “I think just calling someone a refugee doesn’t mean they actually are a benign individual and not a threat,” he said.

The program would be paid for through a proposed tax on arms sales to the same 30 countries, but Paul did not have an estimate on how much it would cost to implement.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told CNN on Monday that he plans to introduce legislation to block federal funding for refugee resettlement. The legislation would ban Syrian Muslims from entering the U.S., according to CNN.

A fellow 2016 presidential hopeful, Cruz has said on the campaign trail that the U.S. should not accept Syrian Muslim refugees due to terrorism concerns. The U.S. should accept Syrian Christian refugees, Cruz has said.

Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, condemned Paul's proposal. He said the U.S. chose "freedom over fear" after 9/11, which was the "proper instinct then and remains so now." Dow said the U.S. cannot shut itself off from the world to solve this problem.

"If we do, shame on us, because then we're giving the enemy precisely what they want — terror, resignation, our prosperity and our very way of life," Dow said in a statement. "The Visa Waiver Program is an effective, essential security tool that we cannot afford to relinquish, especially when it played zero role in the Paris attacks. Let's address the security problems we have, rather than creating new ones."

Unlike other GOP hopefuls, Paul said he is against sending United States troops to Syria to combat ISIS, which claimed responsibility for the attacks in Paris that killed at least 132. He said the United States can be an ally, can arm Kurdish troops and can provide air support, but the “boots on the ground need to be Arab boots on the ground.”

“Ultimately the real peace comes when civilized Islam rises up and says ‘This is an aberration. Islam is a peaceful religion and we don’t believe that beheading innocents and killing Christians is part of our religion,’” he said. “When that happens, that’s when there will be ultimate peace.”

Staff writer Matthew Patane contributed to this report.