Around half of the governors of the 50 USA states, along with Congressman Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, have urged Obama to suspend a plan to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year. He also participated in a White House conference call regarding security protocols for resettling refugees.
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Obama administration officials stressed that criminal history is only part of the process and consideration, but acknowledged there are limits to what’s available.
Their first point of a refugee’s contact is with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
A State Department spokesman said because the resettlement programs are federally run, governors lack the legal authority to bar Syrian refugees from their states.
The House plans to vote Thursday on the plan, which would block Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the country unless four top US law-enforcement and national security officials affirm to Congress that they aren’t a security threat.
A resettlement support center will then collect biographical information from the applicant – such as fingerprinting, and health screening – and prepare them for an interview and security screening.
Refugees from Syria are then subject to additional screening that looks at where they came from and what caused them to flee their home, stories that are checked out.
Individual certification for these refugees, who already undergo a screening process that can take between 18 and 24 months and involves multiple USA security agencies, is likely to slow that process down even further. Blackburn said. “What 800 number do you call to figure out if someone is who they say they are?”
Most of the official statements by Texas Republicans have focused on stopping Syrians from entering the country until the government can guarantee that none of the refugees will harm US citizens.
Americans are split on the idea of sending USA troops to Iraq or Syria to combat the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL or ISIS), with 44 percent believing we should send ground forces and 45 percent disagreeing.
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He went on to say, “Given the bad situations in Paris and Lebanon, I am asking for a full review of security clearances and procedures for all refugees who have the potential to be placed in MI”.
