By Janet Ekstract
NEW YORK- On Wednesday, more than 100 Democratic lawmakers penned a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden urging him to allow Palestinian tourists, students and workers in the U.S. to be able to stay due to the dire conflict in Gaza and the West Bank. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin led the call to grant residents of Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, deportation relief and access to work permits through U.S. programs for people whose homelands are affected by conflicts, natural disasters or other extraordinary circumstances. The letter stated: “In light of ongoing armed conflict, Palestinians already in the United States should not be forced to return to the Palestinian territories, consistent with President Biden’s stated commitment to protecting Palestinian civilians.”
U.S. lawmakers urged Biden to use the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) programs to provide the relief. Biden has a history of having granted TPS to hundreds of thousands of people since he took office in 2021. Because some Republican presidential candidates including former President Donald Trump already backed immigration restrictions against people coming from Gaza, democratic lawmaker view this is a priority issue for immediate resolution. Just last week, Republican Representative Ryan Zinke and 10 other Republicans introduced a bill to expel Palestinians from the U.S. on security grounds and bar entry of people holding passports issued by the Palestinian Authority. Some Democrats, civil rights and immigrant advocates criticized the bill. Democratic Representative Bill Pascrell called it “absolutely despicable.” The humanitarian protections Democratic lawmakers are calling for would only be available to Palestinians already in the U.S. not those in the war zone or refugees in other countries. It’s unclear about the number of Palestinians in the U.S. who would be covered.
