What is the vetting process for Syrian refugees?

Authorities in France and Greece have said that fingerprints taken from the remains of a suicide bomber outside France’s national sports stadium, the Stade de France, match the prints of a man who entered Europe via the Aegean island of Leros on October 3.

French President Hollande said “Friday’s act of war was decided upon and planned in Syria, prepared and organised in Belgium and carried out on our territory with the complicity of French citizens”.

The case of the mystery bomber has now ignited a political culture war across both sides of the Atlantic – one that revolves around whether it is migration or fear of migration that poses the greater peril.

Syrians are already the most stringently screened of any group allowed to enter the country. While planning attacks they would always bear in mind to drag the Syrian refugees into it. The ISIS has just one intent and that is to ensure that the world closes their doors on the Syrian refugees.

Also on Monday, several USA governors threatened to stop accepting Syrian refugees as the weekend attacks in Paris raised security worries over Syrian migrants. Moroccan national Abdelmajid Touil, suspected of supplying weapons used in a March terrorist attack in Tunis that killed more than 20 tourists, had traveled to Italy a month earlier on a migrant boat from Libya. In May, he was arrested near Milan.

Another of the seven dead attackers was identified as Sami Amimour, 28, a French native known to anti-terror police, who was among the attackers at the Bataclan concert hall.

The White House said it was continuing to look for ways to tighten screening for Syrian refugees, noting that people escaping the war-torn nation already undergo rigorous vetting.

Concern is particularly focused on overburdened European entry points, nowhere more than in bankrupt Greece. Hundreds of thousands seek asylum in Europe. Theoretically, interpreters are supposed to assess their claims by asking certain questions – What is the capital of Syria? – and assessing their accents. “Refugees should not be turned into scapegoats and must not become the secondary victims of these most tragic events”.

Republican Senator John McCain backed scrupulous vetting of any Syrian refugees, but strongly opposed suggestions from a few of his fellow lawmakers that all Syrians should be barred, or that Christian Syrians should be favored over Muslims.

There is now a booming black market for fake Syrian passports in Turkey. “We can protect our security and provide a place where the world’s most vulnerable can rebuild their lives”.

Meanwhile, a second brother of Salah Abdeslam on Tuesday urged the fugitive to surrender as police in France and Belgium stepped up their manhunt.

I would also suggest to President Obama that he reconsider his plans to admit Syrian refugees until the dust settles and we get to the bottom of the Paris attacks.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres speaks to reporters during a visit to a refugee center in the southern Serbian town of Presevo, Tuesday, November 17, 2015. Officials with the European Union agency Frontex, which is responsible for border controls, say the number of people trafficking in fake Syrian passports is rising.