The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is defending a 2009 decision that allows Chinese nationals to enter U.S. territory without a visa based on a perceived \u2018significant public benefit,\u2019 while Republicans blast the \u2018loophole\u2019 as a way for members of the Chinese Communist Party to \u2018infiltrate\u2019 the United States and put national security at risk.<\/p>\n
DHS penned a letter to Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., in response to their request for information about the influx of Chinese immigration to U.S. territory Guam. Republican lawmakers have warned that influx poses a risk to national security due to the U.S. military bases on the island.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Guam hosts Naval Base Guam, the Navy\u2019s only submarine base in the western Pacific, as well as Anderson Air Force Base, which is large enough to host U.S. strategic bombers and fighters.<\/p>\n
The lawmakers have been calling for the Biden administration to close what they call a \u2018visa loophole\u2019 that they view as \u2018exacerbating\u2019 the issue of illegal immigration to Guam from China.<\/p>\n
But DHS is defending the policy that protects the so-called loophole.<\/p>\n
\u2018As you note, a foreign citizen generally must obtain a visa to enter the United States, including its territories,\u2019 wrote Zephranie Buetow, DHS\u2019s assistant secretary for legislative affairs. \u2018However, Public Law 110-229, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 (CNRA), established the Guam-Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Visa Waiver Program codified at Immigration and Nationality Act \u00a7 212(l).\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018The CNRA requires DHS to identify countries from which the CNMI receives a \u2018significant economic benefit\u2019 from the number of visitors for pleasure within the year preceding enactment,\u2019 Buetow continued, adding that DHS determined that the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC) \u2018met this economic threshold in 2009.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Buetow, citing the policy, said that PRC nationals \u2018may travel\u2019 to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands \u2018without a visa for the purpose of a temporary visit for business or pleasure for up to 14 days.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Buetow said those PRC nationals \u2018are not authorized for employment.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Individuals without a visa are not authorized to travel to other parts of the United States, including Guam,\u2019 Buetow wrote, adding that when they are encountered at CNMI airports, U.S. Customs and Border Protection \u2018will prohibit their onward travel to other U.S. destinations.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Buetow added, \u2018DHS remains vigilant in its screening and vetting duties, which focus on rooting out exploitation of our immigrant and nonimmigrant visa processes, including by identifying, and where necessary denying entry to, high-risk travelers.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Republican lawmakers are blasting the Biden administration for keeping the \u2018loophole\u2019 in place.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The Biden administration shamefully defends an outdated immigration policy while our national security is on the line,\u2019 Ernst told Fox News Digital. \u2018Allowing our military base and national secrets in Guam to remain at risk shows just how seriously this president takes the threat of China.\u2019<\/p>\n
Ernst told Fox News Digital that the Chinese Communist Party \u2018has already proven they will stop at nothing to infiltrate the United States, and that threat is increasing every day as Chinese nationals use a visa loophole to gain access to our critical military installations in Guam.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018We must change this visa policy and put an end to Chinese nationals accessing our homeland for any malign activity,\u2019 she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And Dunn slammed DHS, saying the agency responded \u2018with willful ignorance of ongoing national security concerns.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018They confirmed that the current statute allows Chinese nationals to enter the commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands for 14 days visa-free; however, they fail to see why it\u2019s critical that we must implement the requirement of a B-1\/B-2 visa to enter the CMNI to successfully deter the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s aggression and transnational repression,\u2019 Dunn told Fox News Digital. \u2018Law enforcement does an outstanding job capturing those with ill-intent, but look how DHS handles our border crisis.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
He added, \u2018We cannot risk the same thing occurring in the CNMI.\u2019<\/p>\n
The comments come amid separate concerns about an increase in Chinese nationals arriving at the U.S. border illegally. That number has surged more than 6,300% in recent years, further fueling national security fears that came back into focus last week when a Chinese immigrant was detained at a Marine base in California.<\/p>\n
There have been 22,233 encounters of Chinese nationals crossing illegally at the northern and southern border so far in fiscal 2024, which began in October. That means this year is likely to significantly exceed last year\u2019s total of 24,125.<\/p>\n
That figure was itself a massive increase over the previous two years. There were just 342 apprehensions of Chinese nationals in fiscal 2021 and 1,987 in fiscal 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection data.<\/p>\n
Fox News Digital has reached out to DHS for comment.<\/p>\n\n
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is defending a 2009 decision that allows Chinese nationals to enter U.S. territory without a visa based on a perceived \u2018significant public benefit,\u2019 while Republicans blast the \u2018loophole\u2019 as a way for members of the Chinese Communist Party to \u2018infiltrate\u2019 the United States and put national security at risk. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}