A US lawmaker is proposing a law barring countries from the United States visa waiver program if they do not check for stolen passports.
Spurred by fallout from the Malaysian Airlines flight 370 disappearance, Sen. Chuck Schumer wants to close a "gaping loophole" in cross-border travel.
On that flight, two passengers were known to be traveling on stolen passports, which were not checked on Interpol’s stolen passport database.
It has been reported that just five of Interpol’s member countries systematically check for stolen passports.
Under the Transnational Regulation of Identity of Passports (TRIP) Act, countries would be given five years to implement systems to screen passengers or they will be banned from the Visa Waiver Program.
Currently, there are 37 countries already in the US Visa Waiver Program.
"The technology exists to stop the bad guys before they board our planes and enter our country, and with this bill I am confident the number of countries using Interpol’s database to make sure that international flights are safe would go way up," said Schumer.
