Top Five Priorities for Homeland Security in 2012

By the end of 2011, at least 43 terrorist plots aimed at the United States since 9/11 had been thwarted. The frequency of attempts against the U.S. homeland has increased over the past three years. These numbers are reminders enough that the White House and Congress cannot be complacent—even in a presidential election year, when everything typically is postponed until after the next inauguration. To more effectively combat terrorism and accomplish all the other missions related to homeland security, government needs to recast its priorities and use its resources more efficiently. These five initiatives will help accomplish those goals.

1. Get Visa Waiver Right.

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) allows for visa-free travel—for leisure or business—for up to 90 days among member states. It encourages commerce, tourism, and professional and cultural interchange between allies. The amount of global travel is expected to double over the next 10 years. Unfortunately, right now, the U.S. share of that business is shrinking. If the trend line continues, the U.S. could be shedding jobs in this sector of the economy rather than adding them. On the other hand, if America recaptured its share of international travel, by some estimates,  an additional 1 million jobs could be created. The VWP accounts for more than half of the travel to the United States. Therefore, getting this program right has to be the top visa reform priority.

After 9/11, as part of its mission to strengthen national security, the Department of Homeland Security restructured the program to beef up the security requirements and to bring more countries into the program. Nine new countries were brought into an improved VWP. Now, however, current law prevents adding new countries with a visa refusal rate greater than 3 percent until Homeland Security implements a system to track the departure of foreign visitors biometrically (a program that will likely never happen and has nothing to do with the VWP). For both security and economic reasons, it makes sense to judiciously add more countries to the VWP. That will require new legislation that decouples the mandate for biometric exit from the authority of the government to add new countries to the VWP.

2. Stop Stealth Amnesty.  

In August, the Department of Homeland Security announced it would cease deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants who are attending school, have family in the military, or are primarily responsible for other family members’ care, and allow them to apply for work permits. This was just one of several initiatives adopted by the Obama Administration as part of a “stealth amnesty” strategy where the government would detain and deport only those who have committed additional serious criminal offenses. As an immigration enforcement strategy, Obama’s policies are bound to fail. Unless the federal government rebuilds respect for the rule of law regarding immigration and workplace enforcement, the unlawful population will never be controllable. Likewise, the federal government should stop the legal challenges to state and local government attempts to enforce immigration laws. ...

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