Biden to Bring Gazans to U.S.: ‘There Are a Lot of Questions They Need to Answer’

President Joe Biden’s southern border crisis, which has brought almost 10 million illegal immigrants into the country, already has the American people on edge. Unsure of who these people are and where many of them come from, countless lawmakers have sought to pressure Biden into taking executive action to secure the border.

Amid rising crime in the U.S., overwhelmed public facilities, and increased taxpayer dollars funding migrant housing, food, education, and health care, the president recently unveiled a plan to bring Gazan refugees into the U.S. — a proposal that’s been met with extreme scrutiny.

The Biden administration plans to use the “U.S. Refugee Admissions Program … to grant refugee status to those who’ve fled into Egypt from the Gaza Strip — which would mean taxpayer-funded benefits and the potential to gain US citizenship,” the New York Post reported. “Gazans who have relatives in the United States could also be let in.” As the National Review Editorial Board observed, “Such an initiative would be a security nightmare.”

As experts have already pointed out, “The Biden administration has completely neglected even the basic screening of illegal entrants into the United States,” as evidenced in recent years. The decision to bring Gazans — 70% of whom were “satisfied” with the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel — into this country has been ridiculed by a number of lawmakers. In a letter written to Biden, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) along with 34 other senators wrote:

“Your administration’s reported plan to accept Gazan refugees poses a national security risk to the United States. … We are further worried that accepting Gazan refugees might cause a crisis at the Egypt-Gaza border, leading to chaos that would only empower Iran-backed Hamas. 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.”

On Tuesday, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and Chad Wolf, chairman of the Center of Homeland Security and Immigration at the America First Policy Institute, discussed the issue on “Washington Watch.”

Since neighboring countries won’t take in these refugees from Gaza, Perkins noted, “[W]hy would the United States?” Additionally, in what ways “would a Gazan refugee relocation program increase” the risk America is already facing of a terrorist attack?

Wolf lamented, “I’m just as skeptical and concerned about that plan as I think most Americans are.” As he pointed out, “I think there’s a lot of questions that they need to answer.” But amid the many questions, Wolf said the most important matter is why the Biden administration is pushing this plan in the first place. “I think they need to explain to the American people why they need to do this, this idea that we need to bring folks from Gaza all the way to the United States, when … the rule of thumb is when you want to resettle refugees out of an area that perhaps is dangerous, that you want to do that as close to home as possible.”

Considering the amount of backlash Biden’s proposal has received, Wolf noted, “I’m hopeful, though I’m not … waiting with bated breath, that they will abandon this.” As Perkins highlighted, this plan coming from the White House seems to break “a four-decade old process” the U.S. has had concerning Palestinians. He added, “Very few of them came to the United States over the last 40 years. This is a significant change in that policy, is it not?”

In response, Wolf explained that America has a “lengthy” process in place when it comes to refugees that want to resettle in this country. Part of that process, he said, involves “a number of security checks and … vetting steps that need to be done.” But when it comes to the Biden administration, Wolf continued, history shows they have “short changed that process” before and will likely “do that again with folks from Gaza,” especially when considering “it’s going to be very difficult to vet these individuals.”

As Perkins emphasized, “We still don’t know exactly what risk is contained within” the individuals who’ve already crossed the southern border illegally. The Gazan refugees “would only heighten concern by those who are trying to keep this nation safe from within.”

According to Wolf, America should be working with regions closer to Gaza so that these refugees can resettle “closest to home.” But “their connections and their ties, perhaps to Hamas and to other groups is questionable. And those are the individuals you don’t want in the United States.” Which, as other experts have explained, is also why it’s not surprising other countries have already rejected them. “But again,” Wolf added, “the Biden administration doesn’t seem to be concerned about this,” but rather, they seem more concerned with making “decisions for political reasons more than anything else.”

Perkins asked, “If the administration wants to do it, who can stop it?”

“Well, it’s hard,” Wolf admitted. “They’ve got a lot of authority … to allow refugees to come in.” But even so, he believes “Congress can stop it at the end of the day. It will take both houses of Congress to do that.” Because even with the authority the Biden administration has, at the very least, “accountability and oversight is what the Congress can do,” he concluded.