The proposed legislation, which passed 289-137, would require top national security officials to certify that each refugee is not a security threat and require monthly reports on the admissions and screening process to Congress. Obama specifically talked about a 16-year-old refugee from Myanmar who was a victim of human trafficking.
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The administration has had a two-pronged approach to countering opposition to Syrian refugees: describing every step of the screening process, which typically takes up to two years, and appealing to people’s humanitarian instincts. It was provided to the Globe on Monday.
At a rally in Dallas, Texas, this week, Vice President Joe Biden offered a heartfelt defense of the Obama administration’s attempts to continue admitting refugees from Syria and other war-torn countries after a November 13 terrorist attack in Paris killed at least 129 people.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to ban Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the United States until tougher screening measures are in place.
The White House issued a statement saying, “There was no specific or credible threat to the United States”. The Obama administration aims to accept 10,000 by the end of the fiscal year. We have a long history of accepting refugees and people fleeing oppression and violence, but we also have an obligation to protect the American people.
Since January 1, 1,925 Syrians have been placed in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of State. The State Department performs background checks using a variety of terror, law enforcement, and intelligence databases.
Officers with the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services undergo five weeks of specialized training, including fraud detection and prevention, security protocols, interviewing techniques and country conditions research. “The whole process of resettlement of refugees is a partnership”, Dujarric stressed. “We have tremendous faith in this system’s ability to detect, investigate, and disrupt terrorist plotting in this country, as it has done repeatedly”.
Jay Inslee has said the state will welcome refugees and has criticized other governors who have threatened to stop accepting them following last week’s terror attacks in Paris. Still, he said there’s a difference between vigilance and surrendering to fears “that lead us to abandon our values, to abandon how we live”.
The White House considers the bill as being unsustainable and say it would not provide significant additional security for the American people, apart from serving only to create significant delays and obstacles for refugees. State does not rely on the United Nations or local resettlement officials to conduct that database check, he said.
The governor’s fears are echoed by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based research group.
Referring to Comey’s comments, Myorkas suggested Comey referred to having different amounts of information on different nationalities, and said that the State Department of Homeland Security adds checks and upgrades information to address those situations.
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“The truth of the matter is, there is no effective means or magical litmus test to assess prospective terrorists hidden among the throngs of refugees applying for entry into the United States”, Nathan Catura said.
