Despite the House passing the bill, it is far from a done deal. Additionally, it requires the Federal Bureau of Investigation director, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence to unanimously agree that each refugee poses no security threat to the United States and certify that before Congress. “Covered alien” includes a national or resident of Iraq or Syria, has no nationality but their last habitual residence was in either two countries and has been present there on or after March 1, 2011. “They want frightened people to think in terms of ‘us versus them, ‘” Biden said in a video Saturday, where he took the president’s place in his weekly address. The ultimate solution for this tragic refugee crisis is to defeat and destroy ISIS and clear the path for new leadership in Syria.
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NY Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney explained to reporters why he and other Democrats supporting the bill represented a simple improvement to the process.
The few Democrats opposing the GOP bill said the US has no business abandoning its age-old values, including being a safe haven for people fleeing countries racked by violence.
“Congress must do everything in its power to protect our nation’s security, and we must have the strongest screening protocol in the world”, Lujan Grisham said. The secretaries said officers with Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, which is responsible for conducting refugee status interviews, are given five weeks of specialized training. Thirty one governors, all but one of them Republicans, have indicated that they will not accept the settlement of the refugees in their states.
We need real reform in the screening process, including better oversight of security procedures prior to admission, congressional authority over annual admission caps and additional background checks for those coming from unsafe countries such as Syria.
“This week, we sent the president’s desk a national defense bill for the second time”, she said. “We have shown that the we can welcome refugees and ensure our security – that there’s no contradiction”. “‘THIS is why Texas is vigilant about Syrian refugees”, Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted on Twitter.
The vetting process, which officials described as robust and effective, takes between 18 and 24 months, and the new bill, they said, would make a functioning system unnecessarily more arduous and resource-consuming.
Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., opposed H.R. 4038.
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“The debate over refugees has been driven by fear, and our politics should never be based on the fear factor”, Albright said in a conference call sponsored by the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress. “The passage of this bill will effectively close our doors to people seeking refuge from barbaric attacks like those that were committed in Paris”.
