Securing the Visa Waiver Program Act of 2023

Subjects: Immigration


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 493 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 493

  To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require Visa Waiver 
   Program countries to share watch list information about known or 
  suspected terrorists and to fully cooperate with United States law 
    enforcement entities in preventing and combating serious crime.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 16, 2023

  Mr. Rubio (for himself and Mr. Cruz) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require Visa Waiver 
   Program countries to share watch list information about known or 
  suspected terrorists and to fully cooperate with United States law 
    enforcement entities in preventing and combating serious crime.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Securing the Visa Waiver Program Act 
of 2023''.

SEC. 2. VISA WAIVER PROGRAM INFORMATION SHARING AGREEMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 217(c)(2)(F) of the Immigration and 
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(2)(F)) is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(F) Information sharing agreements.--
                            ``(i) Security threats.--The government of 
                        the country enters into an agreement with the 
                        United States to share information regarding 
                        whether citizens and nationals of that country 
                        traveling to the United States represent a 
                        threat to the security or welfare of the United 
                        States or its citizens, and fully implements 
                        such agreement.
                            ``(ii) Terrorist watch lists.--The 
                        government of the country enters into an 
                        agreement with the United States to share 
                        thorough, accurate, and current information 
                        about citizens and nationals of that country 
                        who are known or appropriately suspected to be 
                        or have been engaged in conduct constituting, 
                        in preparation for, in aid of, or related to 
                        terrorism, and fully implements such agreement.
                            ``(iii) Enhancing cooperation in preventing 
                        and combating serious crime.--The government of 
                        the country enters into an agreement with the 
                        United States to establish frameworks for 
                        enhanced law enforcement cooperation, including 
                        the exchange of biometric and biographic data 
                        relating to citizens and nationals of that 
                        country who have engaged in, or are 
                        appropriately suspected of engaging in, an 
                        aggravated felony, and sharing any relevant 
                        underlying information for law enforcement 
                        purposes, and fully implements such 
                        agreement.''.
    (b) Effect of Failure To Comply With Information Sharing 
Agreements.--Section 217(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as 
amended by subsection (a), is further amended by adding at the end the 
following:
            ``(13) Effect of failure to comply with information sharing 
        agreements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary of Homeland 
                Security shall immediately terminate the designation of 
                a country as a program country if such country fails to 
                comply with the requirements under subparagraph (D) or 
                (F) of paragraph (2) within--
                            ``(i) the 3-month period beginning on the 
                        date of the enactment of this paragraph, if 
                        such country was a program country on such date 
                        of enactment; or
                            ``(ii) the 6-month period beginning on the 
                        date on which such country became a program 
                        country.
                    ``(B) Eligibility to rejoin.--A program country 
                whose participation in the program is terminated 
                pursuant to subparagraph (A) may be permitted to rejoin 
                the program by producing evidence that the country has 
                come into compliance and continuously complied with 
                subparagraphs (D) and (F) of paragraph (2) for a 
                period, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland 
                Security, that is at least as long as the longer of--
                            ``(i) the period during which the country 
                        was out of compliance with such subparagraphs; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) the most recent 3-month period.''.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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