DHS urged to review legal immigrants from ‘high-risk regions’ under Biden after feds grant visa to suspected Hamas-linked terrorist
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is urging Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to reexamine visa applications for legal immigrants admitted to the United States under the Biden administration. The call for greater scrutiny of legal immigrants comes after the Justice Department revealed that the Biden administration rewarded a Gaza citizen with a visa to the United States despite his alleged ties to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel in October 2023.
“I urge DHS to conduct an audit of all visas issued to high-risk countries since 2021, prioritizing potential affiliations with Hamas or other designated terrorist groups,” Cotton wrote to Noem in a letter this week:
To prevent future violations, DHS must implement enhanced social media monitoring for visa applicants from high-risk regions and establish mandatory real-time checks of the FBI watch list to ensure that no terrorist goes undetected. [Emphasis added]
Cotton’s request comes after the Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, 33, a legal immigrant from Gaza, in Lafayette, Louisiana, for his alleged involvement in the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
According to a criminal complaint, Al-Muhtadi is a member of the National Resistance Brigades – the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The National Resistance Brigades participated in the October 7 terrorist attack against Israel.
Federal prosecutors say Al-Muhtadi learned of the Hamas attack that morning and then armed himself with others and entered Israel in hopes of contributing to terrorism.
(Left) Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi photographed handling a firearm at his residence in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Right) Al-Muhtadi’s Glock with ammunition. (Department of Justice)
Then, in June 2024, less than a year after the Hamas attack, Al-Muhtadi applied for an immigrant visa to live in the United States and met with a U.S. consulate official in Cairo, Egypt, in August 2024, where he claimed to have no involvement in Hamas or the National Resistance Brigades.
Despite overwhelming evidence on his social media that he was linked to Hamas, prosecutors say, Al-Muhtadi was allowed by the Biden administration to legally enter the United States and did so on September 12, 2024, through Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Al-Muhtadi began living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he obtained a state-issued driver’s license, before moving to Lafayette, Louisiana, where he worked at a local restaurant.
“Al-Muhtadi applied for a visa through the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, falsely denying his paramilitary training and terrorist affiliations,” Cotton wrote in his letter to Noem. “Despite clear evidence of these activities on his social media, the Biden administration approved his application, granting him lawful permanent resident status and entry into the United States. »
As Cotton noted in his letter, following the October 7 attack on Israel, the Biden administration processed thousands of visa applications from Gaza citizens through Egypt – just like Al-Muhtadi’s case.
Cotton said visa applications were often processed “without adequate review of digital fingerprints or cross-checking of terrorist watch lists.”
Each year, the United States admits more than 1 million legal immigrants and an additional 1 million foreign nationals on temporary work visas. Through chain migration, legal immigrants, once they obtain naturalized U.S. citizenship, can sponsor their relatives abroad to obtain green cards.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
