House votes to reduce pro-terror DHS official’s salary to $1

The House of Representatives last week voted to defund a pro-terror official who the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) refuses to terminate.

Nejwa Ali: ‘I abso-f—ing-lutely celebrate [Hamas hang-gliders]’

In 2016 and 2017, Nejwa Ali served as a spokeswoman for the Marxist Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which created a “Palestinian Delegation to the US.” President Donald Trump banned the group, but she was able to find a position with the DHS in 2019 as an adjudication officer for the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). It has been Ali’s job to determine whether asylum seekers should be granted entry to the United States.

Following the October 7th attack in Israel, Ali expressed support on social media for the terrorists, writing, “I abso-f—ing-lutely celebrate [Hamas hang-gliders], a–hole, f— you!” Her social media page, in which she describes herself as “American born” but “Palestinian @ heart”, contains several remarks about Jews such as: “F— Israel and any Jew that supports Israel.”

Given a paid vacation

After the Daily Wire reported Ali’s posts, DHS spokesman Matthew Bourke confirmed she was placed on paid administrative leave. The DHS has since refused to terminate the former PLO operative, however, despite several requests from lawmakers. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas reportedly recently confirmed that Ali continues to receive a taxpayer-funded salary.

Lawmakers vote to reduce Ali’s salary

On Wednesday, lawmakers voted to reduce Ali’s salary to $1. The measure was proposed as an amendment to a Homeland Security funding bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), who offered the amendment on behalf of Elise Stefanik (R-NY). 

“This is unacceptable,” Rep. Amodei said. “The Department has had more than eight months to investigate and terminate this employee with cause pursuant to the civil service applicable regulations. While the Secretary in the Biden administration refused to do the right thing, I would invite the members of the House of Representatives to terminate this employee. We must do the right thing and act with urgency to force their hand.”

The bill will now advance to the Democrat-controlled Senate, where the amendment is unlikely to survive.

Ali gloats about remaining on government payroll

In the meantime, Ali has gloated about her paid leave on social media. When someone commented on her page, “When you do everything you can to get fired but the boss says NO,” Ali responded: “hilarious, seriously.” 

Ali has also been using her paid administrative leave to campaign for groups like Hamas. In December, she and others demonstrated outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC where military officials from several countries were meeting. Ali and her associates published a video of the officials coming out of the embassy, which included representatives of the United States, Germany, Switzerland, and other countries.

Ali posted the video to social media and called for the officials’ identities to be publicized so they could be targeted for harassment.

“I was protesting at the Israeli embassy today when this happened,” she wrote. “THIS is exactly who is supporting Israel’s apartheid and genocide of PALESTINE let’s name these a--holes!”

Mayorkas refuses to explain decision

In October, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas refused to answer questions by lawmakers concerning Ali. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) pressed Mayorkas in a congressional hearing about why Ali had not been terminated.

Mayorkas tried to pass the blame to President Trump, during whose administration Ali was hired, and then said “he cannot speak to an ongoing personnel matter.”

The exchange continued and Mayorkas tried to deflect the line of questioning by invoking his Holocaust survivor parent, suggesting this lent him the credentials to decide whether someone presents a threat to the Jewish people.

DHS refuses to comply with FOIA

A month after the massacre in Israel, government watchdog group Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request with the DHS regarding Ali. CASA sought records “related to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Adjudication Officer Nejwa Ali and a potential conflict of interest in administering her duties.”

The DHS acknowledged it received the FOIA request but sent no further responses and did not provide the requested documents. CASA is now suing the department for violating the Freedom of Information Act. 

“DHS has not produced responsive documents to CASA, has not communicated to CASA the scope of the documents it intends to produce or withhold—along with the reasons for any such withholding—and has not informed CASA of its ability to appeal any adverse portion of its determination,” says the lawsuit.

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