Russell Fry Accuses Biden Of Making Policies That 'Flooded The Zone' In Visa Vetting Processes

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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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