Top investigators in the House of Representatives are demanding answers for how a Hamas-supporting former PLO spokeswoman was hired by the U.S. government to vet immigrants.
“Antisemites and those who glorify and celebrate terrorism and the slaughter of innocents have no business interacting with the public on behalf of the American government, and certainly should not be given authority to adjudicate immigration benefits,” wrote James Comer, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Glenn Grothman, chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. “We request documents and information to conduct oversight of USCIS’s apparent failure to vet this individual’s suitability for employment and what USCIS is doing to ensure this employee is removed and her cases reviewed.”
The letter to Ur M. Jaddou, the director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), is based on a Daily Wire investigation that found that Nejwa Ali worked for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) until September 2017, when then-President Donald Trump expelled the designated foreign terrorist organization from Washington.
The Department of Homeland Security, which is supposed to protect U.S. citizens from terrorists, then hired her and put her in charge of evaluating whether immigrants and people who claimed to be refugees should be allowed in the country.
Throughout all of that time, she posted openly to social media with a continuous stream of anti-Semitic and violence-supporting statements, with her social media bio making clear that she was “Palestinian @ heart,” not American.
Following The Daily Wire’s story, DHS said it had put Ali on “administrative leave,” meaning she is being paid not to work. DHS would not say whether it called the PLO for a job reference when she was hired as part of checking with recent employers.
If it did, it collaborated with terrorists; if it did not, it did not vet even the employee tasked with vetting immigrants.
The same goes for her social media statements, which were more easily found than the red flags likely to be associated with asylum-seekers. Moreover, Ali was so outspoken that it seems hard to believe she suppressed her views in the workplace.
Asked in a phone call why she repeatedly posted pictures of Hamas terrorists parachuting in with guns, she said “I abso-f***ing-lutely celebrate them, a**hole, f*** you!”
The congressmen’s letter said “asylum officers ‘[a]djudicate asylum applications, conduct credible and reasonable fear screenings, and adjudicate other benefit applications managed by the asylum program…’ It is unfortunate that foreign nationals who made claims for protection in the United States due to alleged persecution in their home countries… may have had their cases reviewed by an employee who harbors such repugnant views.”
“The stakes are high for those who seek to reside in this country or become a U.S. citizen and for the American people. Our country has learned, through painful loss, that bad actors and terrorists will exploit any vulnerability in our lawful immigration system to gain a foothold in the United States. There is no justification for permitting an open terrorist sympathizer and antisemite to have authority to determine immigration benefits. We are also concerned that this employee may have acted out her bias in adjudications. Accurate adjudications that protect against ineligible applicants, deliver a fair process for qualified applicants, and guard against national security threats must be the priority for the agency,” they wrote.
“To assist our oversight into how an antisemitic terrorist sympathizer gained employment with USCIS and authority over immigration benefits, please provide the following documents,” the congressmen wrote.
They requested documents about her hiring and background check, any prior discipline or complaints, and what actions DHS took in response to the expose.
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