In what they hope will become a hot-button election issue in the November midterms, congressional Republicans unnerved by the spread of Islam are holding hearings and proposing legislation to prevent immigrants who adhere to “Sharia law” from entering or staying in the U.S.
The lawmakers, who have the backing of President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, warn that unless mass immigration from nations like Afghanistan and Somalia is curbed, America will soon look like Europe, where critics say waves of Muslim migrants have formed “parallel societies” that undermine local authority and create conditions for jihadi and other criminal activity.
One controversial proposal by GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama would deport any recent Muslim immigrant and deny entry for any new immigrant “who advocates for the imposition of Sharia law in a manner that would violate the Constitution or any federal or state law.”
In practice, the proposed legislation would require the departments of State and Homeland Security to screen immigrants from Muslim nations, including refugees seeking asylum, based on a battery of questions that would seek to suss out radical Islamic beliefs. Entrants subsequently found to have made false statements during the enhanced vetting process would have their visas revoked and be deported. It goes beyond continuing efforts to identify immigrants who might support violence against the U.S. to address wider concerns about belief systems many see as being at odds with American culture.
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