Bernie Moreno, the Republican nominee in the Ohio U.S. Senate race, condemned the Biden Administration’s consideration of importing refugees from Gaza into the U.S. for resettlement.
“The administration’s reported plan represents a clear national security threat, and once again proves that Joe Biden is more concerned with bringing potentially dangerous foreign migrants into our nation, than ensuring the safety of American citizens,” Moreno said in a statement.
The last thing we should be doing is allowing thousands of migrants from Gaza to flood into America. We need to put the safety and security of American citizens first pic.twitter.com/oYizEcZxEm
— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) May 6, 2024
“There is no way to guarantee that these refugees hold no terrorist ties, and so I urge Sherrod Brown to reject this dangerous plan and begin putting the safety and security of Americans first,” Moreno added.
Moreno’s statement comes as internal federal documents obtained by CBS last week that show senior officials in the Biden administration and U.S. agencies have “discussed the practicality of different options to resettle Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent residents.”
One proposal reportedly involves resettling Gazans who have made it out of the Gaza Strip and entered Egypt, while another plan seeks to import Gazans directly from the Strip and directly into the U.S.
Moreno said importing Gazan refugees into U.S. communities for resettlement is the “last thing” the Biden Administration should do, adding, “We need to put the safety and security of American citizens first.”
In the U.S. Senate, a group of 35 Republicans have expressed strong opposition to any plan by the Biden Administration that would bring Gazan refugees to the U.S., writing in a letter to the Administration, “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.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “Bernie Moreno” by Bernie Moreno.
