Obama administration defends refugee screening process

Last week, the Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for a bill that would require top US national security officials to certify that each individual migrant from Iraq and Syria is not a national security threat to the United States before being granted asylum.

His rival Donald Trump made several belligerent remarks about Muslims and Syrian refugees in the wake of the attacks, including expressing support for registering U.S. Muslims in a database.

Christie told CNN Sunday that the state should have been told about the 75 Syrian refugees now in New Jersey, “and we were not”. Even as France reels from the attacks, President Francois Hollande reiterated his country’s commitment to accepting more Syrian refugees, the letter said. No Syrian refugees have settled in Alabama since the current fiscal year began in October.

The message Mayorkas sent via the conference call was similar to the one delivered in a letter to Christie Saturday from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who hails from Montclair, detailing the process by which the US vets Syrian refugees.

The State Department checks the refugee’s name against databases used for fighting terrorism, as well as law enforcement and intelligence databases.

Only a “very small proportion” of the refugees the United States accepts are unaccompanied adult males – usually survivors of torture, LGBT individuals, or those with disabilities, according to the letter. Then State contracts with local resettlement organizations, including faith-based local offices, to conduct a second interview of the refugee applicant.

The Kerry/Johnson letter said “no one has the right to be resettled in the United States as a refugee”.

In total, the Obama administration is planning to bring into the country 10,000 refugees in the next year. They must be referred to the U.S.by the United Nations.

After all databases are checked and everything is cleared, every refugee over the age of 14 is interviewed by highly trained officials within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

But DHS Deputy Secretary Mayorkas, whose family came to the US from Cuba when he was a year old, said it is unlikely that would-be terrorists would try to use the refugee process to enter the United States because it’s a process that typically takes 18 to 24 months and involves an extensive screening process, both by the United Nations and multiple USA agencies. “Governor Rauner and Deputy Secretary Mayorkas late Friday spoke by phone in follow-up to the Governor’s discussion with the White House Chief of Staff”.

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.

“I urge you to end your opposition to the resettlement of Syrian refugees in IL and instead join me in working to close loopholes in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and federal gun laws that truly endanger the safety of Illinoisans”, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat wrote in a letter to Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, on Monday.

“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.