Signal boost: discriminatory travel Visa program (it is a Trump-Cruz dream of a bill)

[untonuggan]

There's one very "Trump like" piece of legislation that has actually had me worried about how "Trump-like" the rhetoric it is, and because it doesn't actually do much to make people safer (other than the way "duck and cover" drills in the Cold War were meant to make you feel safer in the case of nuclear war.)

It's the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) something something fancy name bill, and it's passed the House and has White House support, which means the only means of change right now is the Senate -- and it's attached to the appropriations bill. So, I don't know if there's much chance at all of it changing but in that historical "what did you do when bad things happened" rubric I want to spend spoons on this one.

Basically, if the bill passes, it affects US citizens and I think also those in the EU (38 countries total) by creating a second tier of citizen: those who are from Iraq, Iran, Syria, or the Sudan; are citizens of those countries by birth; have traveled to those countries since March 2011 (even if your work was as a human rights activist). In those cases, you are no longer eligible to have visa requirements waived for the 38 participating countries...so you would have to pay for a visa and undergo a lengthy screening process.

***
via Huffington Post: 
[The bill] treats people as being "from" places that they are not "from," simply because they happen to carry the nationality of that place, even if they have never set foot there. Under the House-passed bill, a French citizen who was born in Paris, who never in her whole life left France for any purpose, would be excluded from the visa waiver program as "Syrian" if her father happened to be Syrian, would be excluded as "Iranian" if her father happened to be Iranian. And since the visa waiver program is reciprocal with France, if these provisions became U.S. law, France might do the same to U.S. citizens - exclude them from the visa waiver program by treating them as being "from" places that they are not "from."

***

Here is a petition. There is also another petition. You can also contact your Senators directly. If you live outside the US, I would advise petitioning your government to pressure the US government not to pass this bill, as it would probably affect travel regulations in your country as well. (And right now I think backers are relying on "nobody will notice, it's the holidays, we need the appropriations bill passed" to get it through; it's also a toned down version of what Republicans wanted to do to incoming refugees which is a not good compromise in my opinion because it sets a terrible precedent and has no expiration date.)

ETA: so apparently despite checking several bill trackers and Congress, I missed that this did pass. On Friday. You can still sign petitions to make a point, amendments are possible in the future. I do not know at this point what next steps are, but please let me know and ugh.

Comments

[tyger]

Fucking hell what the fuck UGH.

I got nothing else, just. UGH. Why.

[spiralsheep]

I hope this doesn't effect your family-of-choice.

[alee_grrl]

Did it pass in the Senate as well as the House, or just the House? If it hasn't passed in the Senate then there is still a chance for it to be killed or amended there. If it passed both houses there is a chance for the President to veto it. After that it will be up to a) pressure from Treaty nations, and b) judicial review.

And it is still worthwhile to sign petitions and pester Congress creatures. Pressure from constituents can help amendments and revocations be passed down the line.

[redsixwing]

UGH. Signed petitions; this is awful and nonsense.

[antivan_peacock]

Jesus fuck. How long till the internment camps, murica?

I've never been a patriotic sort, but neither have I been actively *scared* of living in the States before now. Maybe it actually is time to find a new country. ...or planet? Mars!? O.O

Thanks for the post.