Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) warned the Biden administration against allowing Palestinian refugees into the United States, noting that the government is incapable of properly vetting terror threats.
The GOP lawmaker noted that Middle East neighbors Egypt and Jordan have not taken any initiative to welcome Palestinian refugees.
“Our country cannot afford more failed leadership and not knowing who is coming into this country who may wish us harm. We would like to see the president rescind this and review his priorities and make it his priority to protect the American people.”
“What we’ve seen over there, and we’ve seen the reflections in our own society of people out protesting in favor of Hamas terrorists—I mean these are people that cooked babies in ovens while they were raping the baby’s mothers, executing elderly people,” the Florida Governor said.
Gazan Refugees in America
Multiple Democrats have proposed allowing Gazan refugees into the United States. In October last year, only a week after Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) suggested welcoming Palestinian refugees into America.“Once granted TPS, an individual also cannot be detained by DHS on the basis of his or her immigration status in the United States,” said the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Thousands of people in the Palestinian territories “are unable to access clean water and nutrition; access to medical care has become increasingly difficult, with some health facilities in Gaza hit by bombardment and many others crippled by a lack of fuel for electricity,“ the letter stated. ”And in the West Bank, unrest and settler violence have resulted in the deaths of 149 Palestinians and the forcible displacement of hundreds more.”
“We believe that Palestinians currently in the United States who cannot safely return home at this time should have the option of seeking temporary protection … Providing TPS and/or authorizing DED would protect Palestinians in the United States from being forced to return to these clearly dangerous conditions.”
“Your administration’s reported plan to accept Gazan refugees poses a national security risk to the United States. With more than a third of Gazans supporting the Hamas militants, we are not confident that your administration can adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States,” the letter stated.
GOP members pointed out that border officials arrested a “record-setting number” of people on the FBI’s terror watch lists in fiscal year 2023 that exceeds previous years combined.
“Apprehended terrorists include a Hezbollah fighter who intended ‘to make a bomb’ and was headed for New York. Given your administration’s abject failure at countering the flow of potential terrorists at our border, how can Congress trust your administration to adequately vet the refugees crossing the Egypt-Gaza border, located nearly 6,000 miles away from Washington, D.C.?”