by Senator Marsha Blackburn
After four years of Biden-Harris failures, our country is set to make an incredible comeback with Republican control of the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the White House starting in the new year. And at the top of our agenda will be securing our border, deporting illegal aliens, and restoring the rule of law.
Until then, though, the Biden-Harris open border remains a national security threat, and Congress should waste no time in taking action to protect our country.
Since taking office, the Biden-Harris administration has apprehended nearly 400 suspected terrorists at the southern border — representing a 3,000 percent increase compared with all four years of the first Trump administration — and released nearly 100 aliens on the terrorist watch list into our country.
Unfortunately, these are just the terror suspects we know about: Under this administration, there have been more than two million known “gotaways,” illegal aliens who have evaded apprehension by law enforcement. We do not know who these people are, where they have come from, or what they are doing in our country.
At the same time, border agents have apprehended more than 1.7 million “special interest aliens” who come from countries that pose a national security threat to our nation, including Iran.
Of course, this is the same regime that orchestrated the horrific October 7 terrorist attack on Israel that claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people, including 46 Americans. Iran-backed Hamas terrorists also took more than 250 people hostage, including 12 Americans — four of whom remain in captivity.
No one connected to these barbaric attacks should be allowed in our country. Yet under President Biden and Vice President Harris, that risk remains high.
Earlier this year, Canada began issuing visas to Gazans with little to no vetting — meaning aliens with potential ties to Hamas could enter our country not only from the southern border but also from our northern border. Instead of addressing this threat, however, earlier this year President Biden issued an executive order that prevents many illegal aliens from Hamas-controlled Gaza from being deported.
Make no mistake: Our country cannot afford two more months of this administration’s broken immigration policy. In the wake of President Trump’s election, human traffickers in Mexico are reportedly urging migrants to rush the border before President Biden leaves office.
To ensure that no migrant tied to Hamas and the horrific terrorist attack on October 7 is allowed to enter our country, Senator Rosen and I introduced the bipartisan No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act. Specifically, the bill would prohibit any migrant who carried out, participated in, planned, financed, afforded material support to, or otherwise facilitated in any way the attacks perpetrated by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, from being admitted to the United States.
The legislation would also prohibit any such individual from being eligible for any immigration benefits.
Earlier this year, this commonsense legislation passed through the House of Representatives with an overwhelming, bipartisan majority: 422-2. With the growing threat of an illegal immigration surge ahead of Inauguration Day, the Senate should pass the bill immediately and send it to President Biden’s desk.
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Marsha Blackburn is the senior U.S. Senator from Tennessee.
Image “Sen. Marsha Blackburn” by Sen. Marsha Blackburn.
