Question: Should government be accountable for terrorists hiding among refugees?

In Turkey and the Philippines last week, Obama pushed back on those proposals as un-American, drawing criticism from some who said he failed to grasp Americans’ post-Paris fears.

“In the wake of the tragic events in Paris, Poland doesn’t see the political possibilities to implement a decision on the relocation of refugees”, said Poland’s future Minister for European Affairs, Konrad Szymanski.

Those fleeing Syria and other war ravaged countries whose claims have been investigated and who have been invited to live in the United States are considered refugees.

Quan says that though the funds for refugee resettlement come from the federal government, the state is free not to accept the money, thus cutting essential funds for those programs doing resettlement as part of their core service mix.

Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on October 8, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey explained of Syrian refugees: “There is risk associated with bringing anybody in from the outside, but especially from a conflict zone like that”.

Refugee resettlement in the USA isn’t some new initiative set up for Syrians. Both Republicans and Democrats debated how to respond to the attacks and if we should welcome Syrian refugees to the U.S.

“Governor Abbott is taking advantage of a really disgusting situation with the Paris attacks and he’s perpetuating Islamic-phobic rhetoric to compare people who need help to terrorists when there’s no evidence that there is”, said Joe Caterine.

Nick Burns was once an exchange student with AFS and worked from his desk at the State Department to allow Orphans global Worldwide (link) to operate after the U.S.-led invasion with Kurdish children in the north of Iraq, although the program was never initiated.

THEN: The Florida senator and GOP presidential candidate told CNN in early September that he was open to the idea of some Syrian refugees being relocated to the United States.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan told reporters Monday he had complained to the administration last month that the process for admitting Syrian refugees was too slow. Representative Steve Stivers, Republican of OH, circulated a letter urging President Obama to stop accepting any refugees from Iraq or Syria. “It puts them in a situation that I think is very uncomfortable”, said immigration attorney Gordon Quan. “We saw groups fighting against the Iraqi government fall under this category, even though they were fighting on our side”. One carried a Syrian passport, but it has since been deemed fake and likely an attempt to impersonate a refugee.

So far, none of the 2,034 Syrian refugees have been arrested or removed on terrorism charges. As ISIS continues to spread its campaign of terror across the globe, the United States stands committed to combating terrorism.

It is certainly appropriate for us to try to help the actual refugees, but we must not expose even one American to a terrorist hiding among the refugees.

In the decade prior to the Syrian civil war, the annual number of Syrians granted USA asylum averaged 17, with a high of 36 in 2013, the latest year for which Homeland Security statistics are available.

Although the numbers pale in comparison with those in Germany, which has made a commitment to take in 800,000 refugees, it’s important to keep the US statistics in context.

“The American people are right to be concerned”, Obama said Sunday. And on Thursday, Ben Carson compared Syrian refugees to dogs.

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. And how can we guard against radicalization among some refugees after they come here, as occurred with the Chechen brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon?