Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
BISMARCK — U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) in a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing serious concern over their Departments’ June 8 determination, which makes individuals who provided “insignificant material support” or “limited material support” to terrorist organizations eligible for immigration to the United States, thereby altering U.S. immigration policy and affecting the security of the United States.
“We write because the American people deserve an explanation regarding the broad, open-ended nature of this authority for exempting individuals who would otherwise be barred from immigration to the United States for supporting a terrorist organization,” wrote the senators.
While the authority has previously been used by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State, prior determinations have typically been narrowly tailored and limited to specific groups of immigrants, geographic regions, or conflicts, such as the Lebanese Civil War or revolution against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
In contrast, the June 8 determination is not limited to certain conflicts, terrorist organizations, geographic regions, or time periods. Instead, it “broadly permits the admission of foreign individuals who provided material support to terrorist organizations that the Biden Administration deems insignificant or limited. This could include, for example, current or former members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and IRGC-linked entities, which are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. It could include individuals seeking asylum at the southern border,” continued the senators.
The Senators requested that the Secretaries provide a timely explanation and justification for this broad new authority, which substantially changes U.S. immigration policy.
Joining Senators Cramer and Hagerty in the letter are Senators Rick Scott (R-FL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), John Hoeven (R-ND), and Steve Daines (R-MT).
Click here to read the letter.