Bowling Green Today

On May 2, 2024, U.S Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), along with 33 other Republican Senators, demanded that President Biden halt his plan to welcome Gazan refugees into the United States. This move comes in response to reports suggesting such a plan by the Biden administration.

The senators expressed their concerns about potential terrorist ties among the refugees and urged the president to prioritize returning Americans held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. "Our first obligation should be to rescue our own citizens, not Gazans," they emphasized.

"Your administration’s reported plan to accept Gazan refugees poses a national security risk to the United States. 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…We are also frustrated that your administration is pushing ahead with a plan to evacuate Gazans from the Strip when there are still American citizens held hostage by Hamas. We demand that your administration cease planning for accepting Gazan refugees until you adequately answer our concerns and focus your attention instead on securing the release of U.S. hostages held by Hamas,” stated the senators.

The lawmakers pointed out that over 70% of Gazans viewed Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel as the “correct” decision according to a recent poll. They highlighted their concerns about ensuring those with terrorist ties or sympathies are denied admission into the United States—a challenging task given that Gazans voted Hamas into power in 2006.

The senators also raised concerns about border security, citing that border officials arrested 169 people on FBI terror watch lists in Fiscal Year 2023—a record-setting number exceeding totals from previous years combined.

To mitigate any potential national security threat at taxpayer's expense, they requested President Biden provide details on how many refugees his administration plans to accept, the screening measures in place to prevent terrorist sympathizers from reaching the U.S., the cost to taxpayers, consultations with regional partners, and proposed locations for refugee housing.