On June 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of State determined that individuals who provided “insignificant material support” or “limited material support” to terrorist organizations are no longer barred from admission into the United States. This determination breaks longstanding U.S. immigration policy, is unacceptably broad, and fails to make clear who is, and who is not, permitted to enter the U.S.
U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing serious national security concerns over their departments’ June 8 determination.
- “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.”
- “[T]he June 8 determination 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.”
Click here for a full list of cosigners.
Want more? Read the full letter here.
