Former President Donald Trump has vowed to reject refugees from Gaza if he becomes reelected in 2024.
During a campaign speech in Iowa on Monday, Trump addressed the current events unfolding in the Middle East in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which thousands of rockets were fired, killing hundreds.
Trump pledged to “reinstate and expand” his Trump travel ban and added that they would not be allowing refugees from a variety of places in the Middle East.
“We aren’t bringing in anyone from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security,” Trump said.
President Donald Trump: "We aren't bringing in anyone from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, or Libya, or anywhere else that threatens our security." pic.twitter.com/t1iELmituM
— MAGA War Room (@MAGAIncWarRoom) October 16, 2023
“I will immediately reinstate and expand the wildly successful Trump Travel Ban on entry from terror-plagued countries, territories, and places,” Trump said. “It just kept us safe. We wouldn’t let people come in from certain countries where there’s tremendous terror, makes sense, right?”
After being inaugurated, President Joe Biden issued a wide variety of executive orders, including ending Trump’s travel ban on people from several Muslim countries.
Trump continued to add that “strong ideological screening for ALL immigrants to the United States” would be implemented, according to The Hill.
“In addition, we will aggressively deport resident aliens with jihadist sympathies,” Trump added.
Trump is not the only Republican presidential candidate who has expressed that the U.S. should not accept refugees from Gaza. During an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” with host Margaret Brennan, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) encouraged the other Republican candidates to take a similar stance and suggested that Palestinian refugees should be taken in by “Arab countries.”
DeSantis shared similar words at a campaign event in Iowa on Saturday.
“We cannot accept people from Gaza into this country as refugees,” DeSantis said. “I am not going to do that. If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all anti-Semitic. None of them believe in Israel’s right to exist. None of the Arab states are willing to take any of them. The Arab states should be taking them if they have refugees.”
Trump initially received backlash after criticizing Israel in the aftermath of the attack from Hamas, speaking about the apparent lack of intelligence that led to Israel missing Hamas’ attack before it occurred and accusing Israel of having publicized its weakness.
