Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said members of the Chinese Communist Party should not be issued U.S. visas indiscriminately.
Cramer, along with Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., introduced a bill that would prohibit members of the Chinese Communist Party from being issued B-1 and B-2 nonimmigrant visas to the United States, according to a Nov. 21 news release.
“You don’t need to have CIA-level clearance to know China is a bad actor. We need a strategic decoupling from China,” Cramer said in the release. “Every day, the CCP actively works against the United States’ interests. Our bill provides greater scrutiny of visas for Chinese Communist Party members regardless of how long they want to enter our country.”
The 93 million members of the CCP are currently eligible for extended stay, multi-entry visas for vacation and non-official government business in the United States, according to the release. The bill is intended to discourage Chinese nationals from joining the CCP and limit CCP opportunities for espionage and propaganda in the U.S. Chinese nationals would still be eligible for other categories of visas, including student, diplomatic and exchange visitors.
The legislation is titled the CCP Visa Ban Act of 2022. The bill’s text says it is intended “to provide greater scrutiny of visas for Chinese Communist Party members.”
In September, 10,485 people from mainland China were issued B-1 or B-2 visas, according to data from the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs. In comparison, that category of visa was issued to 123 people from the Czech Republic, 217 people from Denmark, 7,255 people from the Dominican Republic, 6,377 Egyptians, 1,371 Ethiopians, 829 French nationals, 1,627 Germans, 2,014 people from Great Britain and 287 Japanese nationals during the month of September.
In August, 10,373 Chinese nationals were issued B-1 or B-2 visas, according to the Bureau of Consular Affairs.
A North Dakota native, Cramer served three terms as the state’s at-large U.S. Representative before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2018, according to his website.
