The Secure Visas Act of 2010, mandates that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) maintain U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Visa Security Units (VSU) at the 14 consular posts that already have them and create units at the 16 other posts that ICE has designated as “highest-risk.”
The new legislation was penned by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and consists of companion bills in the Senate and House to improve the security of our nation’s visa issuing process.
Visa Security Units are critical for national security. Currently at VSU-staffed consular posts, 100 percent of applicants receive additional screening; at non-VSU posts, fewer than two percent of applications get extra screening.
“As President Obama said, the Christmas Day terror plot was the result of an unacceptable failure to connect the dots by our intelligence, homeland security, and State Department officials,” said Cornyn, Ranking Member on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security. “To ensure this never happens again, we must take every possible step to close the serious security gaps and communication lapses that allowed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board an American-bound plane with explosives that could have killed 300 passengers.”