Goodlatte Statement on DHS Policy for People Traveling from Ebola-Stricken Countries
October 21, 2014
Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) issued the statement below following the Department of Homeland Security’s announcement that all foreign nationals traveling from Guinea, Liberia, or Sierra Leone to the United States will have to travel through one of five major U.S. airports where additional Ebola screening measures have been deployed.
Chairman Goodlatte: “I’m glad that the Obama Administration is showing more concern about the possibility of people infected with Ebola entering the United States and spreading this deadly disease, but the Administration must do more to protect Americans. Obama Administration officials openly admit that these enhanced screening measures would have never detected the disease in Thomas Eric Duncan, a non-U.S. citizen, who later infected two American nurses in Dallas.
“President Obama has a real solution at his disposal under current law and can use it at any time to temporarily ban foreign nationals from entering the United States from Ebola-ravaged countries. The vast majority of Americans strongly support such a travel moratorium and I urge the President to take every step possible to protect the American people from danger.”
Recently, Chairman Goodlatte and Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) wrote to President Barack Obama calling on him to use the authority granted to him by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act to temporarily ban foreign nationals who were recently in an Ebola-ravaged country from traveling to the United States. The House Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over the Immigration and Nationality Act, which grants the President this authority. In addition, Chairman Goodlatte plans to introduce a resolution calling on the President to implement a temporary travel moratorium.
An October 14, 2014, ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that 67% of Americans surveyed said they would support “restricting entry to the United States by people who’ve been in affected countries.”
Chairman Goodlatte: “I’m glad that the Obama Administration is showing more concern about the possibility of people infected with Ebola entering the United States and spreading this deadly disease, but the Administration must do more to protect Americans. Obama Administration officials openly admit that these enhanced screening measures would have never detected the disease in Thomas Eric Duncan, a non-U.S. citizen, who later infected two American nurses in Dallas.
“President Obama has a real solution at his disposal under current law and can use it at any time to temporarily ban foreign nationals from entering the United States from Ebola-ravaged countries. The vast majority of Americans strongly support such a travel moratorium and I urge the President to take every step possible to protect the American people from danger.”
Recently, Chairman Goodlatte and Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) wrote to President Barack Obama calling on him to use the authority granted to him by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act to temporarily ban foreign nationals who were recently in an Ebola-ravaged country from traveling to the United States. The House Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over the Immigration and Nationality Act, which grants the President this authority. In addition, Chairman Goodlatte plans to introduce a resolution calling on the President to implement a temporary travel moratorium.
An October 14, 2014, ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that 67% of Americans surveyed said they would support “restricting entry to the United States by people who’ve been in affected countries.”