WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Claudia L. Tenney, R-22, New Hartford, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have published an op-ed in Newsweek to highlight their proposed Strengthening Entry Visa Enforcement and Restrictions Act, or SEVER Act, which would have banned Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi from entering the United States for the United Nations General Assembly meeting this week in New York City.

Iranian President Raisi is known as “The Butcher of Tehran” for his human rights abuses, the lawmakers’ announcement said, including the execution of political dissenters.

In the op-ed, Tenney and Cruz argue that the United States has always retained the sovereign right to deny entry to any individual who poses a threat to national security and that the Biden administration should have exercised this right to deny entry to Raisi.

Tenney is seeking a return to Congress in the upcoming general election on Tuesday, Nov. 8, in New York’s 24th Congressional District. She is facing Democrat Steven Holden.