A group of Republican senators led by Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa has published a letter formally petitioning President Joe Biden to halt plans to accept Gazan refugees into the United States, citing national security concerns.
The senators expressed apprehension over potential terrorist connections within the refugee population from Gaza. In a letter addressed to President Biden and dated to Wednesday, they argued that the administration should suspend these plans until further scrutiny and security measures are assured.
“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. We are further worried that accepting Gazan refugees might cause a crisis at the Egypt-Gaza border, leading to chaos that would only empower Iran-backed Hamas. We are also frustrated that your administration is pushing ahead with a plan to evacuate Gazans from the Strip when there are still American citizens held hostage by Hamas,” the letter says.
“We demand that your administration cease planning for accepting Gazan refugees until you adequately answer our concerns and focus your attention instead on securing the release of U.S. hostages held by Hamas,” the letter continues.
The call for action follows a CBS News report from April 30, which indicated that the Biden administration is considering the resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza who have family ties to American citizens or U.S. permanent residents.
The senators’ letter highlighted the complicated security dynamics in Gaza, noting Hamas’s control over the area and the limited access of U.S. officials for vetting purposes. They expressed concerns about the integrity of the vetting process, given the distance and the current political influence in Gaza.
A Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research poll conducted in March showed strong local support for Hamas, complicating the narrative around the Gazan refugees. According to the poll, 71% of Palestinians in Gaza endorsed Hamas’s actions in an attack on Israel on October 7, which resulted in significant casualties, and 52% of Gazans supported the continuation of Hamas’s governance.
The senators also questioned the efficacy of the Biden administration’s current border policies, arguing that these have not sufficiently addressed security risks. Statistics from Customs and Border Protection indicated a record number of detentions of individuals on the federal terrorist watch list in the fiscal year 2023, underscoring their concerns.
“We must ensure Gazans with terrorist ties or sympathies are denied admission into the United States—no easy feat, given the fact that the Gazans were the ones who voted Hamas into power in 2006. Without thorough vetting, your administration may inadvertently accept terrorists posing as refugees into the interior,” the letter reads.
Additionally, the senators expressed confusion over why the U.S. would consider accepting Gazan refugees when nearby Arab countries have declined to do so due to security risks. They requested President Biden to clarify several aspects of the refugee acceptance plan, including the number of refugees to be accepted, details of the screening process, the associated costs, consultations with regional partners, and the intended accommodations for the refugees in the U.S.
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Author: Nicholas Dolinger
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