Socialist leaders of the past would be proud of how the Biden administration has burned down our border and immigration system, particularly by using “humanitarian” channels to accomplish this “fundamental change.”
Our border and the country as a whole are in dangerous chaos as a result. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports encountering over 7.4 million inadmissible aliens from over 160 countries nationwide since President Joe Biden took office Jan. 20, 2021.
The Left refers to all these 7.4 million illegal aliens as asylum-seekers. Another 1.6 million known “gotaways” evaded Border Patrol agents and entered the country.
What the Left won’t admit is that the Biden administration already has let in unknown numbers of unvetted Palestinians through the wide-open back door in the past two years and nine months.
Just as no one should fall for the “asylum-seekers” label (the vast majority of migrants come here for economic reasons), so too Americans should stop repeating the Left’s description of Palestinians who left Gaza as “refugees.”
The label is inaccurate and used for an emotional “yes” response. In law, the term “refugee” is applied to someone determined to have a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
A person who migrates out of his country or territory is a migrant, not by default a refugee.
Meanwhile, Biden’s multimillion migrant population already here in the U.S. has resulted in approximately 9 million applications pending at the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Another 2.6 million cases are pending in the immigration court system, a number that has more than doubled since Biden became president.
The costs of Biden’s migrant population run to the billions of dollars each for many states and localities. And the lives of far too many Americans and immigrants alike have been lost to the drug fentanyl and violent criminals entering through Biden’s open borders.
America is in no position to take on additional migrants from the Gaza Strip or anywhere else.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other administration officials repeatedly stated that they thoroughly vetted Afghan evacuees who the Biden administration rapidly put on planes in Kabul and flew directly to the U.S. after its reckless withdrawal from Afghanistan. DHS’ inspector general found otherwise.
We can’t vet a population against a database that doesn’t exist from a Hamas leadership with which the U.S. neither has diplomatic relations nor trusts. To import a population of Palestinians would be certain suicide for Americans. Both Egypt and Jordan have rejected resettling Palestinian migrants.
The best option is for a displaced population to remain in its own region. International organizations can help more displaced persons more quickly and cost-effectively near their home countries and territories than by bringing relatively small subsets of displaced populations to the United States.
In addition, regional resettlement facilitates the safe and voluntary return of displaced residents to their home territories when conditions improve. They then may participate in rebuilding their homeland, promoting its recovery and long-term stability.
If populations eventually must be permanently resettled outside their home territory, the best option is to do so in their own region where they can reside with others who have similar roots, language, religion, and cultural values.
The many sizable pro-Hamas demonstrations in the U.S. in the past week have shown us that the Palestinian population has no interest in assimilating into American culture and governance, or in expressing loyalty to America or American allies. The U.S. should not knowingly accelerate toward Balkanization by importing large populations of foreigners who are unwilling to integrate into this country.
The Biden administration is the arsonist that burned down our humanitarian border and immigration system. Consequently, America now faces growing terrorist threats within our homeland.
We must deny the administration’s ability to light any more matches. We must reject the resettlement of Palestinians in America.
This commentary was modified within two hours of publication to specify that 7.4 million inadmissible aliens have been encountered nationwide by Customs and Border Enforcement, not only at the southern border, since Biden became president.
Lora Ries is director of the Border Security and Immigration Center and a senior research fellow for homeland security at The Heritage Foundation. Original here. Reproduced with permission.