The State Department, in response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, is making preparations to facilitate the evacuation of American citizens from Israel. However, there’s a significant caveat.
As reported by Just the News, after a series of rocket attacks by Hamas and their incursion into areas near the Gaza Strip, which tragically resulted in over 1,000 casualties, the State Department has announced its readiness to organize charter flights for Americans who wish to depart from the region. What distinguishes this effort is that American citizens will be responsible for covering the cost of these flights. This decision comes at a time when hundreds of thousands of individuals are receiving support in various U.S. cities after entering the country without legal authorization.
“[I]t’s a failure once again, on the Biden administration,” Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast in an interview that aired Friday. “The same thing happened in Afghanistan when you know, countless Americans were stranded there in Afghanistan when Biden pulled our military out and allowed the Taliban to take over the country.”
“And now we have Americans stranded in Israel. And then we’ve got, we think 27 Americans have been murdered by Hamas, and approximately 14 are unaccounted for, likely held, as you know, by Hamas, and we don’t know what their condition is,” she continued.
“We don’t have their whereabouts. So yes, there’s so much to be concerned about. The message that’s been sent over and over again to the American people from Joe Biden’s administration and all of the Democrats in charge is ‘you’re not safe if you are overseas, and you’re not safe at home,’ because they’ve allowed our border to be invaded,” she added.
The State Department defended charging for the chartered flights.
“The U.S. Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas, including U.S. government personnel and their dependents. The State Department has teams communicating 24/7 with U.S. citizens and providing them assistance through phone calls, an online form, and the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program,” a State Department spokesperson told Just the News.
“U.S. citizens in need of assistance should complete the crisis intake form on travel.state.gov, and we will continue to provide updates to U.S. citizens who have registered via our online crisis intake form as information becomes available,” the person continued.
“U.S. law requires that departure assistance to private U.S. citizens and third-country nationals generally be provided via a loan from the U.S. government. It requires that U.S. government coordinated evacuation of private U.S. citizens or third-country nationals be provided ‘on a reimbursable basis to the maximum extent practicable,’” the spokesperson noted further. “U.S. citizen and third-country national passengers on U.S. government-coordinated evacuations are generally required to sign a promissory note, which is a form attesting to their agreement to repay the U.S. government.”
“The note explains the conditions of the loan, the repayment process, and other terms. Upon their return to the United States, private U.S. citizen and third-country national passengers will be billed by the Department’s Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services (CGFS),” the spokesperson added.
“The amount billed will be based on the cost of a full-fare economy flight, or comparable alternate transportation, to the designated destination(s) that would have been charged immediately prior to the events giving rise to the evacuation,” they said.
In an intriguing turn of events, Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, revealed his decision last week to temporarily suspend various U.S. laws to expedite the resumption of construction on the border wall that was initiated during the Trump administration.
According to The Washington Times, Mayorkas is implementing waivers on “26 federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Eagle Protection Act, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act” to facilitate the construction of the new wall.
