A bill to deny admission to the United States to any representative to the United Nations who has been found to have been engaged in espionage activities or a terrorist activity against the United States and poses a threat to United States...

S.2195
Introduced: 
April 1, 2014
113
Second
April 18, 2014
Became Public Law

Under this act, UN-related visas can be denied if the president determines that the applicant has engaged in terrorist activity or espionage against the U.S., or poses a national security threat.

The bill was originally introduced following Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s selection of Hamid Aboutalebi as Iran’s next UN envoy. Though his exact role is disputed, Aboutalebi was affiliated with the Muslim student group that held 52 hostages in the U.S. embassy in Tehran for 444 days from 1979 to 1981. He claimed he was merely an occasional translator for the group, while his critics alleged that he participated in the embassy takeover.

On 4/3/14, 29 senators led by Mark Kirk (R-IL) sent a letter to President Obama, urging him to deny Aboutalebi’s visa application.

The weekend of 4/5/14, Cruz met with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) in an effort to rally support for this bill from Senate Democrats. Following their meeting, an amendment was added requiring prior proof of applicants’ links to terrorist activities in the visa formality process. After the amendment was agreed on, the bill passed in the Senate without opposition.

6 cosponsors (6R).

See also: H.R. 4357 of 4/1/14.

Last major action: 4/18/14 Became public law. (4/10/14 Passed in the House without objection. 4/7/14 Passed in the Senate by unanimous consent.)

More info

For more information, Click Here to visit this measure’s page at congress.gov.

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