Sen. Sessions Introduces Amendment To Add Biometric Entry-Exit System in Airports

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, introduced an amendment on Monday to the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that would restrict funds from being used to modify existing airports or to build new ones without an agreement with DHS that the new facility would install and implement a biometric entry-exit system within two years of completion.

According to a memo by the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, Sen. Sessions’ Amendment 3591 would work directly with airports to “create a solution that works specific to the needs of CBP (Customs and Border Protection) and the limitations of each individual airport.”

DHS recently reported that nearly 500,000 foreign visitors entered the U.S. and overstayed their visas in 2015 alone and that visa overstays could represent up to 40% of the country’s illegal aliens. Since 1996 Congress has passed seven different laws requiring biometric entry-exit screening but has failed in the last 20 years to ensure that these laws were implemented.

The 9/11 Commission recommended a biometric entry/exit system after the 2001 terrorist attack in which four of the terrorists entered the U.S. on visas and overstayed. “Had this system been in place before 9/11, we would have had a better chance of detecting the plotters before they struck,” the subcommittee memo reads.

NumbersUSA sent a scoring notice to Senate offices on Tuesday announcing that it will score Sessions’ Amendment should it come to the floor for a vote.

Read more on this story at Breitbart.com.