Congressional Republicans are taking aim at recent policy changes by the White House that they argue make it easier for individuals affiliated with terror groups, such as the Iranian government, to immigrate to the United States.
Several members of the House’s GOP caucus have spoken out following reporting by the Washington Free Beacon that noted changes the State and Homeland Security departments made last week to federal immigration law that afford “immigration benefits or other status” to individuals who have given “significant material support” to designated terror groups.
According to the Federal Register, individuals who would now qualify for immigration benefits under the newly created category include those who gave “humanitarian assistance” or “routine commercial transactions” to terrorist organizations.
While the State Department claimed the amendment is intended to facilitate entry to the United States for Afghans who unwittingly worked for terror groups, critics of the shift say the language is too vague and opens the door for terrorist allies to come into the country.
One issue, detractors say, is that the changes do not include language to specifically restrict groups such as al-Qaeda and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the paramilitary force known for orchestrating attacks on Americans.
A bill introduced by Representative Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and 14 other lawmakers from the House Republican Study Committee (RSC) aims to close the loopholes in the administration’s changes by requiring that any foreign national applying for a U.S. visa or citizenship reveal any links to Iran or the IRGC.
One of the bill’s co-sponsors, Representative Lisa McClain (R-Mich.), told the Free Beacon: “I am shocked that disclosing Iranian and IRGC affiliations was not already a requirement for U.S. visa applications. Iran has shown us time and time again that they are no friend of the United States.”
The outlet notes of the proposal:
The legislation, which is likely to garner widespread Republican support but stall in the Democrat-controlled House, would force the State and Homeland Security Departments to “ask about an alien’s affiliation with the Iranian state and the IRGC on visa, permanent residency, and naturalization application forms,” according to a full copy of the bill.
“By requiring these carefully crafted questions in our immigration vetting process, the bill aims to strengthen immigration accountability and transparency and provide more data for the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security to better evaluate potential US national security threats,” the RSC wrote in its internal policy brief on the legislation.
But making America more vulnerable to its enemies has been a recurring theme for the Biden White House.
As The New American has reported, China now far outpaces the United States in weapons acquisition, obtaining new technology at five times the speed and one-fifth the price as America.
“In purchasing power parity, they spend about one dollar to our 20 dollars to get to the same capability,” Major General Cameron Holt, who serves as deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, recently said during a speech in San Diego, according to The Drive.
“We are going to lose if we can’t figure out how to drop the cost and increase the speed in our defense supply chains.”
Then there’s the fact that President Biden sold a million barrels of oil from the nation’s strategic reserves to a Chinese state-owned firm where Hunter Biden is an investor. Of course, on Day One in office, Biden terminated an executive order from President Donald Trump that was aimed at keeping foreign countries and firms away from America’s bulk power systems, especially entities tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In addition, the administration’s virtual open-border policy has led to even the United Nations calling the southern border the “deadliest land crossing in the world.”
Representative Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), who sits on the Armed Services Committee and co-sponsored Banks’ bill, argued why the loopholes created by the White House’s immigration changes must be addressed.
“Over the last two decades, the IRGC [have been] responsible for the killing of over 600 U.S. servicemembers and continue to threaten U.S. public officials who dared challenge their terrorism,” Waltz told the Free Beacon. “Allowing any individuals into our country who may have assisted these terrorists would be a direct national security threat to our citizens.”
