In Wake of Hamas Attack, Western Protests, Republicans Increase Focus on Legal Immigration Limits

In the wake of the Hamas terror attack against Israel, and anti-Israel protests erupting across the country, some Republicans are shifting their attention on immigration away from the border and onto stopping foreign nationals who express anti-Israel or pro-Hamas views from getting into the U.S. legally as well.

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2024 presidential candidates and GOP lawmakers have called for the U.S. to no longer accept refugees from Gaza. Reps. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., and Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced legislation that would block anyone from Gaza being admitted as a refugee, while multiple 2024 candidates have promised to do the same.

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Separately, multiple lawmakers and 2024 candidates have come out in favor of revoking visas of foreign nationals who are seen to have celebrated Hamas at student protests and elsewhere. That echoes similar moves in Europe, where there have also been calls to yank visas from foreigners spouting pro-Hamas rhetoric.

In the U.S., Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., have written to the administration calling for Hamas supporters to be deported. In the Senate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has introduced legislation to cancel visas for foreign nationals who “endorse or espouse terrorist activity.”

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It marks an emphasis shift of immigration priorities that have, for most Republicans, focused predominantly on illegal immigration and the southern border since the eruption of the migrant crisis in 2021. {snip}

Trump has promised a number of overhauls to legal immigration if re-elected, including the expansion of the travel bans for mainly majority-Muslim countries and a ramping up of ideological screening for all those coming into the U.S.

Stephen Miller, the former Trump White House advisor who played a central role in those restrictions during the Trump administration, told Fox News Digital that he welcomed the increased attention on legal immigration from fellow Republicans, but wants to see more.

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Miller wants to see a complete suspension of the refugee program and “the aggressive denial of visas to people in every country who fail to support our way of thinking in America.”

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