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During Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) questioned witnesses about vetting processes and procedure for visa applications.
Transcript
00:00Our chair now recognizes himself for five minutes. I think it's important to
00:05realize how we got here, right? I served in Congress for two and a half years and
00:09one of the first hearings that we ever had, the ranking member of this committee,
00:12not this one, said that we were imagined, Republicans were imagining a border
00:17crisis, right? Kind of a stark commentary from the ranking member when all
00:21evidence seemed to suggest and show that there was indeed a border crisis where
00:26millions of people were pouring in illegally. And one of the concerns of
00:29that, not only from the illegal side that Mr. Knott talked about, but the legal
00:33side too. Ms. Vaughn, it seems to me that the evidence suggests that the Biden
00:39administration kind of flooded the zone a little bit and there weren't adequate
00:42checks on the people that were going through the visa process normally. Would
00:46you agree with that? I would agree with that. They implemented through Secretary
00:51Mayorkas a get-to-yes culture. We're instructed to minimize vetting and to
00:58approve, you know, as a default. I'm discouraged from referring cases to fraud. They were not allowed
01:09to issue notices to appear for failed benefit applicants. So they sort of took away the
01:15consequence of filing a frivolous application by, you know, letting people who were here illegally
01:22applied for visas and the few that were denied, you know, nothing happened to them. And that created a huge
01:30impetus to apply for some of these visa programs that people, you know, really wouldn't even claim to
01:37qualify for, but they knew by just filing the application they could get a work permit and protection for
01:43deportation. And that just destroys the integrity of the system and it makes legal applicants have to
01:49wait longer for the benefits that they deserve. Correct. And now we're, now we're forced to figure
01:53out whether people are categorized in the right place, right? Whether they were even lawfully allowed
01:58to, to get the visa that they were supposed to, to receive. That's right. There have been people whose
02:03lawful status has been held back by all these frivolous applications and people who are, have either
02:09received them already fraudulently or who are on waiting lists and who have work permits who shouldn't have
02:18them at all. When it comes to vetting, obviously the Biden administration rescinded Trump's prior
02:22executive order for his, from his first term, uh, that, that kind of strengthened the visa process.
02:27But the, the new executive order under president Trump called for maximum vetting, uh, in order to
02:32reviews of countries with poor screening, uh, and, uh, and ergo travel suspensions, of course. Um,
02:39Mr. Hankinson can, can, can a restriction on a country be lifted?
02:42And how would that look? I guess when, when they would comply and have adequate background checks
02:48of their own citizens, that would, that would be a reason why, uh, a country that is on that list,
02:54uh, could now be, um, allowed into the country. If they would take all of their citizens back when
03:00we asked them to was one factor. Uh, the overstay rate in some of these countries for Chad, it was 50%.
03:06So out of every two people issued a visa, one doesn't come back. Maybe it's time to rethink that one.
03:11Um, if they got their house in order, if their central agencies were able to issue credible documents
03:16and verify criminal records, I would assume that they could be let back in.
03:21Mr. Hankinson, would you agree that our foreign adversaries exploit our immigration system?
03:25And if you do agree with that, how so?
03:27Absolutely. Um, well, we know that the Chinese have, uh, spied on American companies,
03:33American universities, and the American government. Obviously it's not all of them. It's just a small percentage,
03:37but that's all you need. We know that, uh, the Russians have done the same, the Cubans. Um,
03:42it, it's a very easy, uh, country to get into, or at least it has been.
03:47Uh, Mr. Brown, does the current executive order by President Trump, do you believe that that closes
03:53security gaps, uh, more effectively than the previous administrations?
03:57Uh, maybe, but I think the, what the Trump administration has is some wonderful statutes
04:03that you all have already passed and gives them wide latitude to enforce some of these laws.
04:08You just brought up the fact, what do we do with all those people who came in under the Biden
04:11administration through legal channels and weren't eligible? In my opinion, the Trump administration
04:17tomorrow should stand up a permanent revocation division inside USCIS. And look at these, look at
04:23these applications that went through. Number two, the other thing they can do right now is for a lot
04:29of the victims who have been personally harmed by these foreign nationals. There is an existing
04:34process in place with the board of immigration appeals that allows them to appeal their I-130
04:40petitions based on fraud. That's something they can implement right now. There's no other statute
04:45that needs to be done. Thank you for that. Ms. Vaughn, uh, regarding President Trump's executive,
04:51current executive order, do you believe that if we had had this in place during the Biden
04:55administration that ICE would not have had to apprehend 11 Iranian nationals this past Sunday,
05:01one of them being a former army sniper for the IRGC? Um, well, I mean, it's hard to know. Um, but I do
05:08believe that there would have been, um, the ones who came over the border would, are more likely to have
05:14been stopped. And the ones who came on visas are less likely to have been able to get those visas. I mean,
05:20really, um, you know, since we can't, don't have a machine that can read people's minds, the best
05:26defense against allowing people to enter who mean our country harm is to have routine across the board
05:34immigration enforcement that will ensnare the threats as well as the people who are committing
05:42fraud or simply don't qualify. I agree with you. And including a look, a purview of their social media,
05:46which would have shown at least with the Boulder, Colorado individual, uh, sharing Muslim
05:51brotherhood propaganda. Uh, with that, I see my time has expired. Um, and, uh, Mr. Chairman,
06:00you see request, uh, further to the colloquy between Mr. Noresta and, uh, the congresswoman from
06:08Texas. Um, this is in Pew Research Center. A majority of Americans say immigrants fill jobs.
06:14U.S. citizens do not want.

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