That rhetoric could also be affecting America’s Muslims – the Council on American-Islamic Relations says they are seeing an increase in US anti-Muslim incidents since Friday’s Paris attacks. Many have noted the rigorous, multiyear screening process refugees must go through before they can cross our borders, including extensive vetting by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies.
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Republicans in the House of Representatives Nov. 19 secured a veto-proof majority, 289-137, on the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act that would block Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the USA unless they undergo strict background checks.
The U.S. federal government is warning state officials they do not have the legal authority to refuse to accept refugees from Syria. “Every voice is needed to make sure they understand just how important the resettlement program is”, Jen Smyers of Immigration and Refugee Program at Church World Service was quoted as saying by the Religion News Service. We should be more concerned about fake visas and illegal immigration as avenues for terrorists to enter our country rather than the refugee program.
Spokesman for the Texas commission Bryan Black said the state will continue to follow the instructions of governor Greg Abbott, who has called for Texas to withdraw from participation in the resettlement of Syrian refugees.
Obama said Americans have been writing the White House offering to take in refugees fleeing the violence in Syria and Iraq.
Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department and the National Counterterrorism Center weigh in. Additional security measures are increasing the average time it takes to process Syrian applications beyond two years.
“It created a partnership with state government and nonprofit agencies to provide cash, medical and social services until refugees became self-sufficient in their new communities”, reads the NCSL literature.
Yet, many still believe the current screening process is enough. We’re picking people who need to come to the United States.
People who have relatives or friends in a particular city may likely go to where they have those personal connections.
The House legislation was brought to the floor after the attacks in Paris that left more than 120 people dead, and for which ISIS claimed responsibility.
In total, the Syrian-born US population stood at about 86,000 people in 2014, representing about 0.2 percent of the nation’s 42.4 million immigrants, according to a fact sheet released November 24 by the Migration Policy Institute. “We want to help the victims of terrorism in the Middle East, not punish them”, Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), wrote on the organization’s website this week. “And so if someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interest reflected in our data base, we can query our database till the cows come home, but we’re not going to, there’ll be nothing to show up because we have no record on that person”.
“We should not mix the different categories of people coming to Europe”.
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World Vision has recommended Congress move quickly to fund critical humanitarian relief accounts including Migration and Refugee Assistance, International Disaster Assistance and Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance which would cost about $5 billion for 2016.
