Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) denounced his Democratic colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor Friday, denouncing their support for a bill to give Hong Kong refugees temporary protected status as a cynical ploy to undermine US immigration laws.
On December 7, 2020, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed the Hong Kong People’s Freedom and Choice Act, a bill designating Hong Kong as a TPS-designated country for 18 months; increases the number of immigrant visas the US will grant from Hong Kong; and allows individuals who played a “ key role in an organization that supported the 2019 or 2020 protests in connection with China’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s autonomy or Hong Kong National Security Act enacted in 2020 ” or “ arrested ” , detained or convicted for participating in the nonviolent exercise of certain rights “to determine that they have a” well-founded fear of persecution “that could be used to obtain refugee status to the United States.
On Friday, the Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) And Dick Durbin (Ill.) For unanimous approval to pass the bill in the Senate, but Cruz protested and blocked the bill.
In his speech on the Senate floor, Cruz accused Democrats of exploiting the Hong Kong crisis to change US immigration laws.
“This is not a Hong Kong bill. It is instead a Democratic posting bill, because House Democrats, I think, made a cynical decision to try and exploit the Hong Kong crisis to achieve their long-standing goals.” [of] changing our immigration laws, ”Cruz noted.
He accused the law of posing a threat to national security by allowing the Chinese Communist Party to send spies to the United States.
“This account […] would drastically lower standards for both refugee and asylum status to the point where individuals would be eligible, even if they cannot demonstrate an individualized and credible fear of persecution, “Cruz claimed.” There is a special risk when you do that. [because] we know [it] would be used by the Chinese communists to send even more Chinese spies to the United States.
“The last time I checked, when the Chinese communist government sends spies to our country, they are quite willing to come up with a fake background portfolio of materials,” he said.
Citing recent reports that U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) Became romantically entangled with an alleged Chinese spy and that Swalwell was one of the many U.S. politicians targeted by this spy, Cruz demanded that Congress call the CCP confront aggressively.
“We recently had news of Chinese spies targeting members of Congress, prominent Democrats. This is an espionage threat America faces when our opponents abuse our laws and target our leadership,” Cruz said. “The truth is also that China has confiscated passports and I have been told it has stopped issuing exit visas to those considered problematic. As a result, it is very unlikely that China will allow actual dissidents to leave Hong Kong.
“We urgently need a real substantive two-pronged conversation about countering the Chinese Communist Party, about defending the United States of America, about standing up and winning this fight. This bill does not advance that goal,” said Cruz. .
The Texas senator offered the senate two of his own pieces of legislation to consider as an alternative to confronting the Chinese Communist Party. His first bill, the SCRIPT Act, would target Hollywood studios that censor films for showing in China on behalf of the communist government. Cruz accused Hollywood of being “complicit” in China’s censorship and propaganda, citing several examples of films edited to remove material deemed objectionable by CCP authorities.
Cruz notes here that Hollywood censored scenes showing Freddie Mercury’s homosexuality, changing Doctor Strange … https://t.co/dztS9IjyAC
– Jerry Christmas, BA (@Jerry Christmas, BA)1608414 156.0
“The only reason the SCRIPT bill is not passed is because the Senate Democrats are objecting,” Cruz charged. “It should not escape anyone that the Hollywood billionaires who enrich themselves with this Chinese propaganda are among the largest political donors to the current Democratic Party.”
The second bill that Cruz brought forward is the SHAME Act, a legislation that would penalize CCP officials for the atrocities committed against Uyghur Muslims, including forced sterilizations and abortions.
The SHAME Act specifically focuses on human rights atrocities, targeting more than a million Uyghurs in concentration camps and other religious minorities [like] the Falun Gong practitioners, who are imprisoned and murdered and whose organs are harvested, ”Cruz said as he described his legislation.
“My Democratic colleagues like to say on the issue of abortion, they are pro-choice. Well, the Chinese government is currently engaged in forced sterilization and forced abortions – they take Uyghur mothers and force them to abort their children against their will. the Democrats’ views on abortion in the United States is a matter of a woman’s choice, they must certainly be united in saying that a government that forces a woman to abort her child is to take the life of her unborn child, is an unspeakable atrocity, “he continued.
“The SHAME Act does something very simple – it imposes sanctions on the Chinese communist government leaders responsible for implementing this horrific ‘1984’ style policy of forced sterilization and forced abortions.”
My family knows firsthand the evil and the oppression of communist governments. That’s why I will ALWAYS speak out & stand … https://t.co/lkIwUXCUa2
– Senator Ted Cruz (@Senator Ted Cruz)1608337296.0
Some proponents of the Democratic bill blocked by Cruz were furious with the senator.
“I’m furious,” Jeffrey Ngo, a Ph.D. student and an activist, told the South China Morning Post. “[Cruz’s] Today’s actions have single-handedly jeopardized the safety and security of me and others, like me – Hong Kong protesters currently in the US
“I do not agree with it [with] are rejecting the positive impact this bill can have on the lives of real people, “Ngo added.” And not just the lives of real people, but the people he claims to support. “
Others took a more diplomatic tone in their criticism.
“We want to tell Senator Cruz that you don’t have to choose between prevention [Chinese Communist Party] on-screen censorship or saving brave activists from life in prison, “Samuel Chu, founder of the US-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, said in a statement.” Refusing to send Hong Kongers back to become political prisoners and declared atrocities in Xinjiang. are not mutually exclusive. Fight against the [Chinese Communist Party] and standing for Hong Kong requires every tool we have at our disposal. “