Illinois representative on student visas and war in Ukraine

(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday on the State Department and Homeland Security working together to revoke visas for Chinese students.

These include those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields."

According to Brennan, there are about 300,000 Chinese students with visas in the country, which the U.S. government "already has a heightened level of vetting," prompting her to ask Rep. Krishnamoorthi, who is the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, what's going to change, to which Krishnamoorthi said:

"I don't know. There's not enough details, but what it looks like if they're targeting all people of Chinese origin who are on international student visas because he's not limiting it to just people who might have ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and if they do have those ties, they don't belong here, especially if they're committing nefarious acts. However, this appears to be much broader and it's terribly misguided and it appears prejudicial and discriminatory. My own father was, came here on an international student visa. And I believe that these people are vital for our economy and for entrepreneurship in this country. And I think this is going to harm America more than help."

Brennan followed up by saying the Biden Administration also conducted heightened vetting of Chinese students, with her asking Krishnamoorthi if "there is a legitimate argument for expanding this," or if "certain areas should just be off limits," and Krishnamoorthi responded saying:

"I think that you should definitely have heightened vetting, especially in certain critical areas because we know that the CCP tries to steal, for instance, intellectual property or worse. But the way that this is currently structured looks very, very suspicious and you have to remember that the people that are cheering for this policy, what Marco Rubio had called for, is the Chinese Communist Party. Why? Because they want these people back. They want the scientists and the entrepreneurs and the engineers who can come and help their economy. And so we are probably helping them, as well as other countries, more than helping ourselves with this policy."

During the interview, Brennan and Krishnamoorthi talked about reports of a swarm of Ukrainian drones destroying 40 Russian military aircraft deep inside Russian territory, with CBS News reporting the White House not being aware about the planned attack.

This prompted Brennan to ask Krishnamoorthi to talk about the "level of U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine right now and helping them with their targets," to which Krishnamoorthi said:

"I don't want to get into classified information, but what I can say is that it's a little bit more strained in light of what Donald Trump has said recently. The one thing that I can also say is that Trump was right the other day to say that Putin is crazy in the way that he's going after civilian areas in Ukraine repeatedly, and so the Ukrainians are striking back. At the end of the day, the only way that we can bring these hostilities to an end is by strengthening the hand of the Ukrainians. Trump should, at this point, realize that Putin is playing him and aid the Ukrainians in their battlefield efforts. That's the best way to get to some type of armistice or truce at the negotiating table sooner rather than later."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Krishnamoorthi, click here.