SECURE Act: Stop Extremists Coming Under Refugee Entry Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On the U.S. Senate floor today, Senator Rand Paul delivered the following remarks urging his colleagues to support his amendment to H.R.3761, Restoring American’s Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015. Amendment No. 2899, known as the Stop Extremists Coming Under Refugee Entry Act (SECURE Act), would suspend visa issuance for countries with a high risk of terrorism and impose a waiting period for background checks on visa issuance from other countries until the American people can be assured terrorists cannot enter the country through our immigration and visa system. This legislation is based off language first proposed by Sen. Paul in 2013, and was introduced as a stand-alone bill, S.2329, earlier this year.

The amendment failed passage with a vote of 10-89.

Click HERE to read the text of the SECURE Act in its entirety. The video and transcript of Sen. Paul’s remarks can be found below.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH SEN. PAUL’S FLOOR SPEECH

TRANSCRIPT

Sen. Paul: Mr. President, we spend hundreds of billions of dollars defending our country, and yet we cannot really truly defend our country unless we defend our border.

My bill would place pause on issuing Visas to countries that are at a high risk for exporting terrorists to us.

My bill would also say to Visa waiver countries that in order to come and visit, you would have to go through Global Entry, which would require a background check.

I would urge Senators who truly do want to defend our country to have increased border security by voting for this amendment. Thank you. 

###