Sen. Marsha Blackburn Criticizes Biden’s Plan to Bring in Gazan Refugees

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) questions Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, former head of security at Twitter, during a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 13, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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.

President Joe Biden is “reportedly looking to welcome Gazans to America as refugees. According to a recent poll, 71 percent of Gazans said they supported Hamas’s horrific Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians,” Ms. Blackburn said on the Senate floor on May 8, referring to the Hamas terrorist group. “More than 300 individuals on the terror watchlist have entered our country under President Biden. But for some reason, this administration thinks that they can vet Gazans who elected Hamas as their government, who support the terrorist attack.”

According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), border agents in fiscal year 2023 encountered 564 people who are on the U.S. government terror watchlist.

The poll showing 71 percent Gazan support for Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre of over 1,200 Israelis was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. It found that 64 percent of Gazans blamed Israel for their current predicament, 20 percent blamed the United States, and only 7 percent blamed Hamas.

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.”

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Ms. Blackburn’s remarks came following an April 30 media report that cited internal federal government documents, which said that the administration was considering bringing Palestinians into the United States as refugees.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also pilloried the federal government for considering such a proposal, noting, “I didn’t even think Biden was crazy enough to do this.”

“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.

“We forget about what happened that day on October 7th. But that’s what we’re dealing with here. And to take people from that part of the world and import those blood feuds to this country—that is not in your interest or your family’s interest. We should not be importing people in from the Gaza Strip and so I hope that that report is wrong.”

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.

In November, more than 100 Democrat and Independent lawmakers asked President Biden to designate the Palestinian territories as a Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

A TPS designation is given when a nation faces ongoing armed conflict. People from such regions who are already in the United States are not removable from the country, and can secure employment authorization.

“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.

The lawmakers called for providing Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Palestinians present in the United States. Illegal immigrants in the United States who are designated with DED status cannot be removed from the country for a specific period of time.

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.”

Meanwhile, 35 Republicans sent a letter to President Biden on May 1, warning against allowing Gazan refugees into the country. Instead, they said that the administration should focus on freeing American hostages held by Hamas and getting them back home.

“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.?”