A possible Biden administration plan to begin allowing refugees from Gaza into the U.S. has faced significant pushback, with critics calling attention to potential national security risks.
"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," read a letter to President Biden signed by 36 Republican senators last week.
The letter came after CBS News reported that the Biden administration was considering multiple plans to bring Gazan refugees to the U.S., with senior officials discussing the possibility of accepting refugees who have immediate family members already in the United States, according to documents reviewed by the outlet.
One of the proposals floated by the administration involves using the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to bring people who have connections to the U.S. to the country after they escape the war-torn area through neighboring Egypt. Another proposal calls for the U.S. to consider welcoming people out of Gaza and processing them as refugees if they have American relatives.
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Any refugees from Gaza would have to pass a series of medical and security screenings, with those who are eligible being flown to the U.S. with refugee status.
But doubts remain about just how well the U.S. would be able to screen individuals from the war-torn area, raising concerns about the national security implications of such a program.
"One wonders how well thought-through such a plan is and how it is good for us," William Ruger, a Trump administration nominee for ambassador to Afghanistan and president of the American Institute for Economic Research, told Fox News Digital. "Who’s going to do the vetting? Who’s going to pay? What will be the consequences here at home? Is the U.S. meant to deal with and pay for the consequences of the decisions that other actors make in the world simply because we are a powerful country?"
Curt Mills, the executive director of The American Conservative, shared similar concerns, telling Fox News Digital that allowing in refugees from Gaza would open "a horrendous amount of problems."
"It would be impossible," Mills said when asked if refugees from Gaza could be properly vetted. "We just do not know, writ large, what level of commitment or understanding most of the people that come into the United States at these levels have to the American project."
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Meanwhile, some critics have pointed to the public support Hamas enjoys among many Gazans. Writing in the New York Post, Center for Immigration Studies senior national security fellow Todd Bensman pointed to polling that showed a majority of Gazans support the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Bensman also argued that many in Gaza have "long viewed" the U.S. as an enemy, pointing to a 2013 poll that showed 76% of the population view the U.S. as more of an enemy.
"I do not think it’s possible to sufficiently vet most Gazans, even children, who are thoroughly saturated, marinated, indoctrinated, from school, mosque, and summer camp, parents and family, the doctrines of hatred and killing," Bensman told Fox News Digital.
Bensman also questioned why the U.S. should be the country responsible for taking in Gazan refugees, arguing that there are plenty of other countries in the region that are "perfectly equipped to take on more refugees."
The 36 Republican senators hit on similar themes in their letter to Biden, warning of the dangers that the possibility of "terrorists entering our homeland is no hypothetical matter."
"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," the senators wrote.
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Lisa Daftari, the editor-in-chief of the Foreign Desk and a terrorism expert, told Fox News Digital that any plan to bring Gazans to the U.S. as refugees would have to "be done lawfully and with due process."
"It seems the Biden administration has employed a ‘make-it-up-as-you-go-along’ foreign policy in dealing with fallout from the Gaza/Israel war, "Daftari said.
Daftari argued that "there are many issues" the White House would have to consider with such a policy, adding that "the main one is concerning U.S. national security."
"The challenge in allowing these individuals into the country is that it is impossible to have proper vetting," Daftari said. "The mess at our southern border should serve as the cautionary tale as to date, Border Patrol has encountered over 200 individuals whose names have appeared on the national terror watchlist, and that is not taking into account the dozens or more who have evaded authorities and are currently in this country."
The White House did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
