Refugees fear a backlash after a Syrian passport was found at the site of one of the horrific terror attacks in Paris.
Advertisement
Authorities say that one of the suicide bombers was carrying a Syrian passport, issued in Greece on an emergency basis.
Could terrorists ultimately infiltrate our country disguised as refugees?
Refugees and migrants fleeing Syria and others countries often arrive in their new homes with little or nothing.
The passport bears the same name and details – but a different photograph – as the document found near one of the men who attacked the Stade de France.
A country as large and generous as ours – charities serving Syrian refugees have reported huge upticks in giving, so let’s not accuse Americans of being disinclined to help – there ought to be a solution that balances charity with prudence. It is a time-consuming process, and immigrant advocates have complained about the prolonged wait for clearance, but a thorough vetting once completed, would make a Syrian among the safest candidates for admission to this country.
Lynch said the screening process for those considered for immigration to the United States is more stringent, relying on extensive interviews, biometric screening and the combined intelligence assets of several federal agencies.
That could allow Republicans to block President Barack Obama’s goal of bringing 10,000 more Syrian refugees to the USA during the current budget year.
He said that no refugees should be permitted into the USA from Syria “unless they be Christian refugees that are facing genocide”, and said that the spending bill should contain language specifying as much. In a televised interview over the weekend, he warned, darkly, that “you can have 1,000 people come in and 999 of them are just poor people fleeing oppression and violence, but one of them is an ISIS fighter”.
“Many of these refugees are the victims of terrorism themselves”, Obama said.
Governors in at least 16 states – Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, North Carolina and New Hampshire – have said they will bar further Syrian refugees in their states or have expressed concerns about continuing resettlement efforts. The Democratic candidate, John Bel Edwards, released a TV ad in early November accusing Republican David Vitter, who was linked to a 2007 prostitution scandal, of choosing “prostitutes over patriots”.
Advertisement
In France, Le Pen did not mention the migrant crisis – although she has opposed admitting more refugees – but she insisted France had to take control of its borders. Then the Department of Homeland Security does its own screening before a refugee is granted entry and protection. “Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values”. But Germany’s government said ISIL may have intentionally sought to create tensions by using the passport “to politicize… the refugee question”. “We can and must do both”. And Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who is Jewish, invoked the story of the St. Louis, the boat filled with Jewish refugees from Germany that was turned away by the US (and Canada) in 1939.
