Sen. Vance bill would require some immigrants to deposit up to $15K to prevent overstay

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio is introducing legislation Thursday that would require immigrants with temporary visas to pay thousands of dollars before entering the U.S. – as part of the effort to crack down on visa overstays

The Timely Departure Act would require some foreign nationals seeking admission to the U.S. on a temporary visa to pay between $5,000 and $15,000 in a bond or cash payment. That money would then be returned to them when they leave the U.S. in accordance with the terms of the visa, or transfer to a green card.

If they overstayed, however, that money would be retained by the Department of Homeland Security, and it would be diverted into an account – the ‘Immigration Detention and Enforcement Account" – to fund the detention and removal of those in the country illegally. 

The bill would also bar visa overstays from making a defensive asylum claim after their visas have expired.

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The U.S. has struggled to tackle the issue of visa overstays – in which immigrants arrive legally into the U.S. on a visa limited by time or on condition of employment, but then remain in the U.S. even when the time expires or they are no longer employed.

Vance’s office noted data that there are approximately 700,000 visa overstays a year, making it an often-overlooked but significant contribution to the illegal immigration problem the U.S. is tackling. In FY 2020, there were 684,499 overstays – about 1.48% of expected departures.

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"America is a welcoming nation, but we are also a nation of laws," Vance said in a statement. "There are millions of people in this country who have abused our visa system and circumvented our legal immigration process. It is a slap in the face to the working-class Ohioans whose wages are suffering – I will not stand for it."

"I'm proud to introduce this legislation and bring some sanity to our broken immigration system," he said.

The bond system would not apply to certain temporary visas, including diplomatic visas, visas for human trafficking victims and visas for those transiting through the country. It would apply to tourist and business visas, but not to those nationals who are enrolled in the Visa Waiver Program – which allows nationals of some countries to come to the U.S. for 90 days for pleasure or business.

The legislation highlights how the debate over immigration and tackling illegal immigration can extend beyond security at the southern border.

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While the U.S. has been engaged in a border crisis now into its third year, lawmakers have been debating potential fixes to the immigration system for years, but are often unable to find agreement on broad overhauls. It has led lawmakers to attempt to provide smaller fixes to specific immigration issues. 

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The Biden administration has called for Congress to pass sweeping legislation that it introduced on day one of the administration, to fix what DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has declared a "broken" immigration system. However, it has been rejected by Republicans due to the inclusion of a mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S.