Restoring Integrity and Security to the Visa Process
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary
By Jessica M. Vaughan on June 25, 2025
Thank you, Chairman McClintock and Ranking Member Jayapal, for the opportunity to discuss how Congress can help restore integrity and security to the visa process. Americans value legal immigration and welcome legitimate temporary visitors, but when applicants are able to obtain entry or benefits through fraud or abuse the privilege of entry by overstaying, then public support for immigration suffers. It has been disheartening to witness the degradation of our legal immigration system under the Biden administration policies. Besides the catch and release policies and improper mass parole programs, the Biden administration administered the temporary and permanent visa programs with excessive leniency, inadequate vetting, and insufficient attention to fraud vulnerabilities.
Even as the number of applications and issuances increased significantly overall and in the largest visa program (for short-term visitors), the refusal rates have declined under Biden. The combination of a greater volume of applications along with more lenient policies has created even more difficulties for vetting and greater opportunity for visa fraud. One of the most disturbing recent examples is the case of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian citizen who had resettled in Kuwait and then traveled to the United States with his family on visitor visas in August, 2022, with plans to stay, according to his family members . Soliman has been arrested on charges of firebombing a group of pro-Israel protesters on June 1 in Boulder, Colorado, leaving 15 injured. My organization has identified and catalogued nearly 50 more cases of aliens who were admitted since 2008 as visitors or immigrants who were subsequently charged with or committed noteworthy acts of espionage, human rights violations, or terrorism. More cases are coming to light on a regular basis as the Trump administration has escalated immigration enforcement and shared details of these individuals with the public.
While President Trump has taken important steps to begin to restore proper vetting and appropriate standards for admissions, still, many parts of our immigration law that need to be updated and bolstered by Congress. This statement is intended to offer a list of recommendations for Congressional action to restore integrity and security to the visa programs that go beyond the critical improvements already contained in the Secure the Border Act of 2023 (H.R. 2).
https://cis.org/Testimony/Restoring-Integrity-and-Security-Visa-Process
