WASHINGTON – Following reports that the Biden administration is planning to welcome Gazan refugees into the United States, U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) led 33 of their colleagues in demanding the president suspend the proposal, citing concerns of potential terrorist ties, and instead focus his efforts on returning Americans held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

“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,” the senators wrote.

“We must ensure Gazans with terrorist ties or sympathies are denied admission into the United States—no easy feat, given the fact that the Gazans were the ones who voted Hamas into power in 2006. Without thorough vetting, your administration may inadvertently accept terrorists posing as refugees into the interior. This is especially the case as Hamas terrorists have a long track record of co-mingling with civilian populations in Gaza,” they continued.

A recent poll found that over 70% of Gazans viewed Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel as the “correct” decision.

In addition to Boozman and Ernst, Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senators John Thune (R-SD), John Barrasso (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Ted Budd (R-NC), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT), Pete Ricketts (R-NE), John Cornyn (R-TX), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ron Johnson (R-WI), John Kennedy (R-LA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Rick Scott (R-FL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), James Lankford (R-OK), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Tim Scott (R-SC), Katie Britt (R-AL), Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) also signed the letter.

Click here to read the full letter.