Syrian refugee vetting process is tough enough

In a letter signed by eight members of Illinois’ delegation in the nation’s capital, the group called on President Obama to cease the flow of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the USA until there is an updated system in place that can verify the background of the refugees and provide “absolute certainty” that no individual with sympathies to the Islamic State is allowed into the country.

Since Friday, at least 31 state governors, mostly Republicans, vowed to bar Syrian refugees from entering their jurisdictions.

So what really rattled me during the influx of governors’ statements was when Texas Governor Greg Abbott said, “We are working on measures to ensure … that Texans will be kept safe from those refugees”.

“Apparently they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America”, he said later. But federal law says the Executive Branch is required to take religion into account in determining who is granted asylum. “If we don’t know much about somebody, there won’t be anything in our data”, he said. According to NPR, Texas has had a total of 238 Syrian refugees resettle in the state in the last three years which is the second highest total in the nation.

Whether we should stop the flow, or more accurately the drip, of Syrian refugees into the United States is not the question we should ask ourselves.

Yet despite GOP hopes that Democrats would support the bill in large numbers, Democratic leaders turned against it Wednesday, complaining of changes to the legislation they said would have the practical effect of keeping refugees out of the US entirely.

“People understand the plight of those fleeing the Middle East. But they also want basic assurances for the safety of this country”, said Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican.

While remaining the world’s number one haven for refugees, the United States has only taken in a few 2,000 Syrian refugees during the past four-and-a-half years of civil war in that country. Among Republicans, just 12 percent want the Syrian refugee resettlement program to continue, while 69 percent want it ended.

Acknowledging that Florida does not have the authority to change federal immigration funding, Scott urged Congress “to prevent federal allocations toward the relocation of Syrian refugees without extensive examination into how this would affect our homeland security”.

“I can not think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than a few of the rhetoric that’s been coming out of here during the course of this debate”, he added.

Meanwhile, Christian relief agencies say it’s important the Church not let fear hinder sharing the Gospel with the refugees.