from a senior dhs official who is tasked with coordinating our screening program. how many syrian refugees have entered the united states in the last year? i m sorry, i didn t bring any of my any of the refugee numbers with me because i was prepared to talk about visa waiver. how many visa waiver program overstays are there currently in the united states? sorry, i didn t wring that number with bring that number with me. miss greasy when i look at the witness list you have got the longest title deputy assistant secretary screening coordination office of policy department homeland security and the two biggest issue right now that we re dealing with we>8o6 had these terrible tragedies, terrible terrorist attacks and we re talking about the refugee issue and the visa waiver issue and you can t give us any numbers on either program? i came prepared to talk about the visa waiver program. i just asked you how many visa waiver program overstays are there and you said you don
take a listen. that certainly seems like the likely outcome given the given what s transpired. look, james, somebody entered the united states through the k-1 visa program and proceeded to carry out an act of terrorism on american soil. that program is at a minimum worth a very close look. and that s exactly what the department of state and the department of homeland security are doing. so sir, what would you say about the problems that have obviously been exposed with a porous k-1 visa program and for any seeds that might already be planted in the u.s. that would not fall under any policy change? well, clearly the fiance visa program is going to take a fresh look. i know we also, in terms of the visa waiver issue, need to look at, for example, the number of europeans with european passports that traveled to turkey last year was 10 million. most went for either holiday or
commissioner, what extra steps are you taking? well, we re fortunate that over the past year mayor de blasio here in new york has funded us to the extent that we now have about a thousand more officers that will be focused on counterterrorism and crowd management. we have a new response group, 800 officers. we have a new critical response command, over 500 officers. they will be out at that parade. for a change we ll have great weather, low wind, the balloons will be up. we re expecting about three million people to be in new york city for that event. it s going to be a great event and it will be a safe and secure event. secretary johnson, we ve had a heated debate about the syrian refugee issue, but there talking with law enforcement officials, you hear that if congress did anything, you d like them focus on the visa waiver issue. explain. is it easier for an isis operative to get into this country to get a visa than it is
commissioner, what extra steps are you taking? well, we re fortunate that over the past year mayor de blasio here in new york has funded us to the extent that we now have about a thousand more officers that will be focused on counterterrorism and crowd management. we have a new response group, 800 officers. we have a new critical response command, over 500 officers. they will be out at that parade. for a change we ll have great weather, low wind, the balloons will be up. we re expecting about three million people to be in new york city for that event. it s going to be a great event and it will be a safe and secure event. secretary johnson, we ve had a heated debate about the syrian refugee issue, but there talking with law enforcement officials, you hear that if congress did anything, you d like them focus on the visa waiver issue. explain. is it easier for an isis operative to get into this country to get a visa than it is for the refugee process?