U.S. lawmaker introduces bill that would bar and deport Sudanese

January 10, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – A US lawmaker this week declared his intention to reintroduce a bill he originally submitted in 2003 that would bar citizens of five countries from receiving immigrant and non-immigrant visas.

Congressman J. Gresham Barrett from South Carolina said that his proposed legislation will cover nationals from countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism along with Yemen.

The US State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism, a designation which already subjects visa applicants from these countries to special processing measures in consulates abroad before they are allowed to enter the country.

Gresham justified the move by the failed bombing attempt on Christmas day aboard a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner blamed on a Nigerian man who U.S. officials believe was trained by al Qaeda in Yemen.

Furthermore, he cites the case of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a Muslim born in the United States of Palestinian immigrant parents, who was charged with murdering the 13 victims of the November 5 rampage at Fort Hood, the world’s biggest military facility.

“While President Obama may have declared an end to the War on Terror, it is clear our enemies did not get the message. Twice in the past two months, radical Islamic terrorists have attacked our nation and the Administration has failed to adapt its national security and immigration policies to counter the renewed resolve of those who seek to harm our citizens” Gresham said in a statement posted on his website.

“More disturbingly, the President stands by his decision to close the terrorist detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay despite reports that released prisoners were behind the Christmas Day bomb plot”.

The bill would also prohibit the transfer of terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay to US soil.

The Republican legislator said that individuals from these countries seeking political or religious asylum or emergency medical treatment may be exempt from these provisions “only after an extensive federal screening”.

The bill does not contain any exception for diplomats who are travelling to the US on official missions.

Earlier this month, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced the new procedures that would also target the countries on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism and other “countries of interest” in terms of enhanced screening techniques who are boarding US bound flights.

The bill if enacted would prohibit the US State Department and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from granting a visa to nationals of these five countries. Furthermore, those already in the country on a non-immigrant visas such as students, temporary workers and visitors for business or pleasure would be required to leave the country within 60 days after the bill becomes a law.

In addition to that nationals from these countries applying for permanent residency on basis of work or family ties will have their applications denied as they have to receive a visa number first which is not allowed under the bill and thus they will be subject to deportation.

Sudan has long demanded removal from the list of states that sponsor terrorism and last year the US special envoy Scott Gration told lawmakers that there is no evidence to justify Sudan’s presence on the blacklist.

In some rare instances US immigration laws have been amended to prevent specific nationalities from immigrating to the US including Chinese in the 19th century.

In reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan in 1941, US President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order by which Japanese, Americans of Japanese ancestry, German and Italian citizens, permanent residents, and American citizens of those respective ancestries (and American citizens’ family members) were were placed in camps.

(ST)