Border Security Legislation Passes House Judiciary Committee

The Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act (H.R. 2278), also known as the SAFE Act passed the House Judiciary Committee this week. The SAFE Act aims to strengthen and expand interior immigration enforcement. It mandates that the Department of Homeland Security establish a biometric entry and exit data system at each port of entry in the United States so that the country can keep better track of who is here on a visa and for what duration. This standalone bill to protect the border, The SMART Border Act (H.R. 2200), also contains the provision.

Our immigration system is broken, largely because we have no idea who is in the United States at any given moment. Implementing a mandatory biometric entry and exit data system at the border—what I call “slide and glide”---would change that. Forty-percent of the 11 million undocumented individuals living in the United States entered legally but overstayed their visa. A biometric system would tackle this problem by giving law enforcement the ability to identify who comes, who goes and who stays.