Daines Slams Biden Admin for Weakening Immigration Policy, Allowing Known Terrorist Supporters to Immigrate to U.S.

U.S. SENATE — Senator Steve Daines sent a letter to the Biden administration expressing serious concern over their decision to allow individuals who provided “limited material support” to terrorist organizations to be eligible for immigration to the United States. Daines warns doing so alters U.S. immigration policy and threatens national security. 

“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,” Daines wrote.  

While the authority has previously been used by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State, prior determinations have typically been narrowly tailored and limited to specific groups of immigrants, geographic regions, or conflicts.

In contrast, the recent 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,” Daines continued.

The Senators requested that the Biden administration provide a timely explanation and justification for this broad new authority, which substantially changes U.S. immigration policy. Read the full letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken HERE.

Senator Daines joins Senators Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Rick Scott (Fla.), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Ted Cruz (Texas), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), and John Hoeven (N.D.).

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