Conservative

Pulliam: Republicans should propose travel visa policy instead of outright ban

The Ebola crisis has stirred up fear in lawmakers and the American public.  At least 40 members of Congress support a travel ban on the West African nations at the center of the Ebola crisis.  Politically, calling for travel bans makes sense.

But rather than going to extremes, Republicans should use this opportunity to propose sensible alternatives. The Ebola crisis doesn’t call for a ban, but a change in how travel visas are given, especially to those coming from West Africa.

Currently, when people who have recently been in one of the West African nations infected with Ebola arrive in the U.S., they undergo screening at American airports. Despite these screenings, Ebola has reached the U.S.

Since these screenings seem to have not been completely effective, absolute travel bans are being proposed. Such bans would prevent anyone who has been in an Ebola affected country in West Africa from traveling to the U.S.

The call for travel bans looks good politically because it is a definite and drastic contrast to what the Obama administration is doing. The Senate elections are all about tying Democrats to Obama; the Ebola issue is just one more negative to pin on the opposing party.



However, absolute travel bans on Western Africa are not the right policy move. If travel bans are instituted, people will try to cover up where they have been. One of the key elements in preventing people who are infected with Ebola from entering the country is the ability to track their recent travel history.

In addition, travel bans could make it much more difficult for American doctors and medical supplies to reach the infected countries in West Africa. If proper medical services cannot reach these countries, then the problem of Ebola could perpetuate, resulting in a much larger problem for the U.S. and the global community.

Instead of absolute travel bans, lawmakers should implement visa restrictions, which provide more flexibility than absolute travel bans. For example, when doctors from the U.S. who are fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa need to return home, they will be able to obtain the proper visas, provided that they are first cleared and screened. But if someone just wishes to take a trip to the U.S. and has been in the infected countries of West Africa, then their visa can be denied.

With midterm elections approaching, everything is being politicized, including the Ebola crisis. Out of the growing number of lawmakers pushing for a travel ban, many of them are Republicans.

It is the job of the challenging party — in this case, the GOP — to make the incumbent party look as if there is an obvious lack of sound leadership. The incumbent party, on the other hand, must give an appearance of competency and good leadership.

Both parties are playing politics with the situation, but at the end of the day, real policy solutions need to be proposed to help prevent a very real problem.

Visa restrictions assure the American public that an Ebola outbreak will not occur in the U.S., while also assuring that proper medical personnel can travel to West Africa in order to fight the Ebola outbreak.

Politics rules everything, especially in the weeks leading up to elections. But hopefully, politics will not affect the debate surrounding Ebola to the point where wrong policy solutions are pursued.  

Ebola is a serious problem that needs to be met with serious policy discussion. The Obama administration needs to do more to face this problem head on, and the alternatives Republicans are proposing need to be improved. Save the politics for later.        

Chris Pulliam is a sophomore policy studies and political science major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at clpullia@syr.edu.





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