GOP senators move to block migrants who pose security threat from being paroled into US

A Republican senator from a northern border state is leading a charge to bar federal border authorities from paroling into the United States any illegal immigrant determined to be a possible national security threat.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), alongside eight other Republican senators, debuted the Safeguarding Americans From Extremist Risk at the Border Act on Monday, which would prevent U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents from allowing illegal immigrants on the FBI terrorist watchlist or those labeled "special interest" individuals from being admitted.

“Joe Biden and Senate Democrats’ refusal to secure the southern border has resulted in the loss of American lives, and as long as migrants with criminal records and potential terrorist ties are being let into the country, our national security is at risk," Daines said in a statement. "This bill will help protect our nation against the very real and serious consequences of Joe Biden’s open southern border."

Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the bill alongside Daines.

In several instances since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, the U.S. has admitted immigrants only to later determine they were of "special interest" or had a nexus to terrorism.

Republican senators asked the Biden administration earlier this spring for answers after it was revealed that eight immigrants associated with the Islamic State had been admitted into the country, including through the parole process.

CBP has maintained that all immigrants encountered are screened and vetted against whatever information is available to federal law enforcement at that time.

The bill comes following the Biden administration's decision over the past three and a half years to "parole" into the country approximately a million non-U.S. citizens, according to Daines.

Parole is a process that the federal government can use to circumvent normal protocols in unusual or exceptional circumstances. Republicans have criticized the Biden administration for creating new immigration programs to parole immigrants outside the U.S. into the interior of the country.

The Biden administration has released a total of 5 million illegal immigrants into the country at the border, according to federal data shared with the House Judiciary Committee last month.

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The parole releases that Daines referred to are separate from the 5 million figure.

Migrants outside the U.S. can seek parole through programs that allow them to fly into the country from abroad or make an appointment at a southern border port of entry rather than enter illegally in hopes of being released and permitted to remain pending immigration court.

CBP detains and will not release any person who is identified at the time of arrest as being on the FBI terror watch list, according to the agency.