Republican members of the House of Representatives introduced a new bill this week that would bar Palestinian refugees from entering the United States. The legislation comes as the fighting between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas expanded in and around the Gaza Strip.
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) promised to introduce the “Guaranteeing Aggressors Zero Admission Act” (GAZA) Act to ban the admission of visas to those with Palestinian passports. The bill would also bar Palestinians from entering the country through the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) parole program.
“We can’t let President Biden abuse our parole and visa rules to bring unvetted Palestinians into American communities the way he did with thousands of unvetted Afghans,” said Tiffany.
We can't let President Biden abuse our parole and visa rules to bring unvetted Palestinians into American communities the way he did with thousands of unvetted Afghans.
I introduced the GAZA Act to protect America’s national security.https://t.co/wPCYFlCNps
— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) October 14, 2023
“I introduced the GAZA Act to protect America’s national security,” he wrote.
Support for restrictions on Palestinian resettlement included Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who said that the United States is “the most generous nation in the world, but we are in no position to accept additional refugees, especially from a region with as high a risk of terrorism, given our nation’s inability to secure our own border or vet those who are already here.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) said that the country’s priority should be to “rescuing American hostages, and making sure that Israel has every resource needed to defeat Iran backed-Hamas and defend its homeland.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said that Iran, a chief supporter of Hamas, “should take responsibility for any Palestinian refugees caused by its proxy.”
“Iran is responsible for the death and destruction — it should be responsible for refugees as well,” he said.
The action comes as a number of American representatives have said that the country has to prepare for a wave of refugees from the disputed territory.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) said that the “international community as well as the United States should be prepared to welcome refugees from Palestine while being very careful to vet and not allow members of Hamas.”
Bowman said that half of the population of Gaza “are children.”
