Refugees or people who have asylum in the US may get their visas canceled if they travel to the country from which they fled – as did one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing case.
This amendment, offered by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina, grants such authority to the secretary of Homeland Security. The senator crafted it amid revelations that bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev had traveled back to the restive Russian region that his parents had fled a decade earlier. The amendment, however, would let those holding refugee or asylum status apply for a waiver from the rule before taking the return trip.
In a separate amendment related to the bombing, Graham would have the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security more thoroughly screen potential immigrants coming from nations or regions where groups that represent a threat to the US are known to operate.
