Republican lawmakers push to keep Palestinians, sympathisers out of US

Earlier this week, Republican lawmaker Nancy Mace introduced a bill that would prevent Palestinians from entering the United States due to safety concerns. The proposed legislation is one of several pro-Israel efforts that government representatives have pushed this year.

The comically-named "No Amnesty for Hamas Sympathizers Act" would prevent entry to the US to people who have lived in Gaza or the occupied West Bank, or those who hold passports or travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.

It would also prohibit Palestinians from receiving special immigration designations such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS), parole, asylum, or refugee status.

These individuals could also be deported under the Immigration and Nationality Act, Mace said in a statement on her website.

"We're taking a practical approach to protecting American citizens," Mace said on September 10, a few days after Israel shot and killed Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank.

Other anti-Palestinian moves

Mace's words come in the wake of an earlier proposal by Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who introduced another bizarrely-worded bill to the legislature in May: the "No Higher Education Assistance for Mobs of Antisemitic and Terrorist Sympathizing Students (No HAMAS) Act."

The bill aims to revoke federal financial aid and loans to students who have taken part in Palestinian solidarity demonstrations across campuses in the US.

"The No Hamas Act is common sense legislation that will cut off federal aid for grown adults who are breaking our laws, spewing anti-Semitism, and openly embracing terrorists," Tillis said.

More recently, on September 12, Senators Marco Rubio and Rich McCormick wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to crack down on "aliens" taking part in pro-Palestine protests by revoking their visas.

"On July 24, 2024, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress, our country witnessed hordes of anti-Semitic and terrorist-supporting protestors descend on Union Station… These protestors represent the worst of America, and there is no place for such hate in our country," they wrote.

The senators acknowledged that US citizens were protected under the First Amendment right to free speech, but added that these protections shouldn't be afforded to visitors or those seeking citizenship.

"The United States has a right to determine who to admit into our nation and has established standards regarding the inadmissibility of aliens," they said.

Witch hunt

These statements and proposed bills by prominent American politicians are all part of an attempt to demonise and criminalise pro-Palestine voices. The dangerous, dehumanising rhetoric comes at a time when Palestinian-Americans are watching their family members and compatriots undergo a genocide in Gaza.

Over the past year, the consequences of intolerant rhetoric has been made clear, such as with the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Palestinian boy in Chicago in October 2023.

Between October and April 2024, the Council on American-Islamic Relations also noted a total of 8,061 complaints of bias and discrimination against Arabs and Muslims, "the highest number of complaints it has ever received in its 30-year history." More recently, in May 2024, a woman in Texas attempted to drown a three-year-old Palestinian child in their shared apartment complex swimming pool.

On November 7, the only Palestinian-American representative in Congress, Michigan's Rashida Tliab stated on the floor of the House: "The refusal of Congress and the administration to acknowledge Palestinian lives is chipping away at my soul."

The next day, her colleagues voted 234-188 to censure her for speaking about Palestine, "a punishment one step below expulsion from the House," noted Associated Press.