Rep. Moore introduces bill to stop student visas to Chinese nationals
Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.V.) introduced the Stop CCP VISAs Act to prohibit Chinese nationals from obtaining student visas.
'We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security,' Moore said in a press release.
On March 14, Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) introduced The Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act (Stop CCP VISAs Act) to prohibit Chinese nationals from obtaining student visas.
According to a press release, the bill “comes on the heels of several cases where Chinese students have been caught spying on the U.S. military or stealing advanced technology from American companies.”
[RELATED: Former Kansas prof seeks reinstatement after overturned Chinese espionage conviction]
“Every year we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals to come to the U.S. on student visas,” Moore states in the press release. “We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security.”
“Congress needs to end China’s exploitation of our student visa program,” she adds. “It’s time we turn off the spigot and immediately ban all student visas going to Chinese nationals.”
The press release cites several examples of Chinese students who were accused of spying on American intelligence, including recent graduates of the University of Michigan who photographed a U.S. military base.
In February, Moore wrote a Newsweek op-ed about the CCP’s threat to the U.S through the student visa program.
“[T]he scope of this threat is so broad and so pervasive that the only way to combat espionage successfully is to eliminate all opportunities for CCP spies,” Moore wrote. “An immediate ban on all student visas for Chinese nationals is essential to protect and defend our national security, innovative technology, critical infrastructure, and personal information.”
Rep. Gill (R-TX) also commented on the bill stating, “the Chinese Communist Party is fundamentally opposed to our American values, and yet we have handed out hundreds of thousands of student visas to Chinese nationals, many of whom are state-sponsored spies.”
“I fully back Congressman Riley Moore’s Stop CCP VISAs Act, and I am proud to be a cosponsor,” he noted in the same press release.
In February, a bill by Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) was reintroduced to increase transparency among private institutions’ financial relationships with China and Iran.
Campus Reform has reached out to Rep. Moore and Rep. Gill for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
