Biden’s Repeal of Trump Era Immigration Reform Allows CCP to Continue Spying at US Universities
Jose Nino
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It’s no secret that the Chinese Communist Party has exploited the US’s immigration system to expand its reach in the US.
US federal law enforcement has caught on to this over the last few years, as evidenced by the FBI’s arrest of scores of Chinese Communist Party spies who masqueraded as graduate students and research scholars at university institutions. Todd Bensman, the National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, observed that these Chinese intelligence assets have stolen sensitive national defense secrets from the US. And they’ve done so for multiple years.
Bensman explained how Chinese spies have been able to penetrate American institutions and steal their secrets:
The spies, many secretly members of China’s military services, had to get in close to do damage this grave and found an unguarded path through America’s largely self-babysitting cultural exchange and student visa programs.
With the previous administration actually taking immigration and the rise of China seriously, one would think that a new political consensus would emerge with regards to China. However, Bensman observed that “President Joe Biden has canceled the repair and instead bestowed a priceless gift on People’s Liberation Army intelligence services: continued American vulnerability.”
Bensman added that the Biden administration reversed a previous Trump era policy that was effective in combating espionage problems at universities:
At issue are the 1.5 million cultural exchange “J” visas and the student “F” visas active in any given recent year. Almost without media notice, on July 6 the Biden Department of Homeland Security (DHS) withdrew a September 2020 regulation from the Federal Register that former President Donald Trump’s administration had proposed to relieve the espionage problem and many more besides, like foreign terrorist infiltration and immigration fraud.
One thing that Bensman highlighted is that Chinese spies used the J and F visas to steal national defense research from American research institutions.
Bensman explained why Proposed Rule 2020-20845, the Trump era reform that kept espionage in check, was necessary to have on the books:
Proposed Rule 2020-20845 was good, apolitical governance that America sorely and obviously needed. It prominently cited the Chinese espionage rampage along with terrorism and immigration fraud for forcing the J and V visa holders of 59 countries to renew them every two or four years, plenty to complete an average graduate degree program or research project. The most valuable part of the process would have had DHS conduct highly useful eyeball-to-eyeball interviews with renewal applicants. The agents also would collect biometric information, spot-check progress at academic institutions, and double-check that originally claimed purposes remained valid going forward.
One point that Bensman mentioned that should give us pause, especially with the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks right around the corner, is that “F-1 visa holders have far too often committed terrorism crimes in the United States, including a number of the 9/11 hijackers entered on bogus student F visas that enabled plotting.”
All in all, real national security is about securing our border and keeping migrants from hostile countries and cultures from entering the country. It has nothing to do with non-stop interventionism abroad, nation-building, or saber-rattling with other countries. Simply put, rival countries will exploit the weaknesses in the US’s immigration system once they pick up on these holes.
Genuine national security is upheld only when our borders are secured.
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