Among them is Governor Mike Pence of IN, whose decision led to the re-routing of a Syrian family of three, officials said. “As such, opening our door to them irresponsibly exposes our fellow Americans to unacceptable peril”. The bill would require that the heads of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence certify that each refugee being admitted would not pose a threat.
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-As for concerns about potential refugees lacking documents to prove who they are, the administration officials said Syrians as a population tend to provide extensive documents involving their day-to-day lives.
Republicans seized on a poll released by Bloomberg on Wednesday that shows 53% of Americans want to stop the program that would allow 10,000 Syrians to resettle in the United States.
Reps. Adam Schiff, of California, Bennie Thompson, of MS, and Zoe Lofgren, of California, who are the top Democrats on the Intelligence and Homeland Security committees and the Judiciary committee’s Immigration and Border Security subcommittee, respectively, said the GOP bill would keep out Iraqi and Syrian refugees for years. “We can and must do both”.
Salmon said “the public is on our side on this one” and believes the must-pass spending bill should further address the issue. The number of Syrians destined for the U.S. is low compared to refugee figures in European countries such as Germany. “I write to inform you that I will not accept any refugees from Syria in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Paris”.
“Allowing thousands of Syrians to enter our country without a proper vetting process is the height of irresponsibility”.
The war of words between New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and NY City Mayor Bill de Blasio over Syrian refugees headed for the United States is heating up.
The US annually accepts 70,000 refugees from around the world.
According to DFW global Community Alliance, there are 102 Syrian refugees in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Experts noted to PolitiFact that the entire process typically takes two years on average for refugees from start to finish.
There was a similar partisan divide on whether the United States should send troops to Iraq or Syria to fight ISIS. Robert Casey says the process for screening refugee applicants takes more than a year and is the most rigorous vetting in the world.
“At this moment right now, the security concerns probably outweigh the concerns about refugees, ” in strict political calculations, said Green, who studies the role of religion in politics. The Obama administration said about half that group is children, while about 2.5 percent are people over the age of 60 and roughly 2 percent are single men of combat age. During these hard times, we will not succumb to Islamophobia. “As long as Obama says they are not terrorists he can bring in as many as he wants”. Rand Paul, who introduced legislation Monday to stem visas to countries with high risk of terrorism. It institutes tough new screening requirements, but steers clear of demands from a few Republicans, including presidential candidates, for religious questioning or a complete end to the US refugee program.
He also forcefully warned President Barack Obama against using executive action to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer its detainees to the U.S.
Fears have heightened since the attacks in Paris on Friday evening.
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House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats have come out strongly against any measures to block Syrian and Iraqi refugees, saying they already are rigorously vetted under the present system. “And there is no way to weed out future radical Islamist extremists who plan and carry out attacks after they arrive here”.
