Democratic House candidate refuses to explain opposition to Republican rival’s bill restricting Palestinian immigration
Monica Tranel, a Democrat seeking to unseat Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke in next year’s state election, publicly complained about her Republican opponent’s bill to stop Palestinian immigration to the United States amid the war in Israel, but he refused to explain his position on the issue. .
Zinke’s measure, the Protect Americans from Extremism (SAFE) Act, would deem any foreign citizen with a Palestinian Authority (PA) passport or PA-issued travel document inadmissible to the United States. The legislation would also prevent DHS from granting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and asylum or refugee status to Palestinian Authority passport holders.
“BREAKING: Ryan Zinke, in a sickening display of Islamophobia, just introduced a bill to expel Palestinians who are here legally from the US. We have no choice: we must defeat him in November,” Tranel wrote in a post last year. week on X, formerly Twitter.
Fox News Digital asked the Montana Democrat to explain why she thinks the bill is a “disgusting” measure and what her stance is on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as most representatives express support to Israel. The Democrat did not respond.
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“I think this is the toughest anti-Gaza, anti-Hamas refugee immigration bill ever, and I can tell you that this administration deserves it, because, to date, I haven’t seen them look at anyone,” Zinke said of the bill. (To Drago)
Fox asked Tranel whether he would have voted for the bipartisan Israel aid package that passed the House or supported a ceasefire in the Middle East, or whether he supported Zinke’s call for tougher sanctions on Iran and a ban on that the funds go to Iranian and Palestinian organizations. Tranel did not respond.
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“This bill looks and is very, very tough and tough. Absolutely. And I said that from the beginning,” Zinke told Fox about the bill. “I don’t think you will find a tougher bill for the Gaza region than this one. What has drawn us to this is that this administration has failed in every one or two previous narratives that have come to this country.”
Tranel is running in the race for Montana’s First Congressional District, the same seat he ran for and lost in the 2022 midterms against now-incumbent Zinke.
Montana Tranel, a Democrat, is seeking to unseat incumbent Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke. (William Campbell)
A record 169 people were found on the FBI’s terrorist watch list at the southern border over the past 12 months, up from 98 in fiscal year 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Statistics.
In September alone, border officials arrested 18 people on the FBI’s terrorist watch list.
Lora Ries, director of The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Immigration and Border Security, sounded the alarm following Hamas’ initial attack on Israel.
“So when you combine 1.7 million with the 7.4 million that CBP has found, we have to assume that terrorist sleeper cells are here inside the United States, and Congress needs to wake up and take preventive action,” he said Ries.
With FY23 seeing 2.48 million migrant encounters at the southern border alone and ongoing terrorist attacks against Israel, members of Congress and presidential candidates have also sounded the alarm about potential threats in the US borders and have called for a halt to Palestinians entering the US.
Smoke rises after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit a house in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on Saturday, October 7. (AP)
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, has also spoken of potential terrorist threats crossing our southern border.
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“The idea of ​​a possible terrorist attack occurring in the United States is no longer just a question of what if, but when,” Daines said at the Senate Republican leaders’ weekly news conference. “With a war in the Middle East emboldening violent extremists and an open southern border, we are increasingly vulnerable to attacks on our soil right here at home.”
Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Bill Melugin and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
