Conservative leaders are asking the president for assurances that his new deportation amnesty for Palestinians won’t apply to those who support Hamas.

President Biden announced the move last month, ordering an 18-month stay of deportation for Palestinians in the U.S. who are already here illegally or who would run out of legal status during that window. He said the protection wouldn’t apply to terrorists, but the conservatives said he needs to go further and shut out anyone who supports Hamas.

They also worry the administration won’t be able to live up to Mr. Biden‘s promises, given Homeland Security’s issues with vetting illegal immigrants.

“Can you promise the American people that your administration will check with the Israeli government for all information it possesses regarding any Palestinian to whom you are considering a grant of DED?” said the leaders, in a letter spearheaded by Chris Chmielenski, president of the Immigration Accountability Project, and joined by more than two dozen others.

Mr. Biden‘s stay of deportation is known as Deferred Enforced Departure, and it’s part of the president’s powers. It’s similar to Temporary Protected Status, which is granted by Homeland Security.

It is supposed to be used to protect citizens of countries experiencing an upheaval, such as war, political instability or natural disaster, and where it’s impractical or unsafe to ask them to go back home.

Roughly 700,000 migrants are covered by TPS or DED, with some having lived here under the protection for a quarter of a century.

Using it for a subset of a country’s population is unusual but not unprecedented. It has been used for residents of Hong Kong, for example.

The Palestinians present a tricky test.

Mr. Biden‘s move applies to them regardless of whether they were formerly residents of the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is in control and where the war with Israel is raging.

The conservatives said that undercuts Mr. Biden‘s rationale for granting DED, since Palestinians don’t have to be sent back to Gaza.

They also said survey work suggests Palestinians in that Mideast region, regardless of where they live, show high levels of support for Hamas.

“Unless the viewpoints of removable Palestinians present in the United States are radically different from those of Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria or the Gaza Strip — of which we have seen no evidence — they by and large support Hamas, one of the most vile and deadly terrorist organizations in the world today, engage in atrocity denial, support terrorism against Israel, and share a widespread resentment of the United States,” the conservatives wrote to Mr. Biden. “How can it possibly be in the interests of the United States for you to offer blanket protection from removal to Palestinians illegally present in the United States or inadmissible or deportable on other grounds?”

The White House has said it believes its DED proclamation will protect “most Palestinians in the United States.”

In addition to protection from removal, DED lets recipients apply for work permits to legally hold jobs in the U.S.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.