Here is the relevant text of H.R. 6679, the No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act.

Any alien who carried out, participated in, planned, financed, afforded material support to, or otherwise facilitated any of the attacks against Israel initiated by Hamas beginning on October 7, 2023, is inadmissible.

. . . Any alien who carried out, participated in, planned, financed, afforded material support to, or otherwise facilitated any of the attacks against Israel initiated by Hamas beginning on October 7, 2023, shall be ineligible for any relief under the immigration laws, including under this section, section 208, and section 2242 of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999 (and any regulations issued pursuant to such section).”.

Now, if you think about it, this is a bill that is akin to barring handing whiskey and car keys to teenagers and hoping for the best. The bill doesn’t call for U.S. military forces to kill any individual who carried out, participated in, planned, financed, supported, or facilitated the Hamas massacres. It’s not calling for seizing the assets of those people. It’s just declaring that anyone who participated in the massacres isn’t allowed to enter the country. You might as well introduce a bill that would bar inviting Vladimir Putin into the National Archives with a flamethrower.

In fact, a cynic might suggest that the whole reason that House Republicans brought this bill to the floor for a vote was as an experiment to see if any Democrat would be dumb enough to vote against it.

The bait was taken! The vote was 422–2. The two “no” votes were Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) and Cori Bush (D., Mo.). Delia Ramirez (D., Ill.) voted “present.” (Profile in courage!)

Tlaib argued the bill was “unnecessary because it is redundant with already existing federal law. It’s just another GOP messaging bill being used to incite anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim hatred that makes communities like ours unsafe.” You know what I suspect will really stir up anti-Muslim animus? A Muslim congresswoman voting to oppose the barring of Hamas terrorists from entering the country.

I would say that this vote stands as a terrible indictment of Cori Bush, but it may pale in comparison to other indictments in the near future.

Guess who voted for the legislation? Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. How do you know you’re way out on a limb? When even your fellow Squad members don’t want to follow you.