- Grassley called for restrictions on funding to bring Syrian refugees to the U.S. on November 5th – before latest Paris attack by Islamist terrorists
- Many Republican governor’s stopping any cooperation with resettlement
- Iowa Governor Branstad among them, — statement link below
- Obama says “robust vetting of refugees going on” — FBI says not so much
- No humanitarian reason to put humanity at risk in targeted countries
- New Jersey Governor Christie where are you
- Former Arkansas Governor Huckabee calls Speaker Ryan to task — no commitment from him
- Obama wants 100,000 Syrian refugees — Rock Island is one of cities where he has started to send them
- Cruz and Bush say Christians not the problem, Rubio says it is impossible to vet the refugees.
Grassley — via The Hill
“I urge that you, as part of the appropriations legislation before the committee, require, as a condition for any funding for refugee resettlement for Syrian refugees, a comprehensive plan on how security will be achieved,” he wrote. “Furthermore, not one dollar should be expended until stringent parameters for vetting these refugees are established.”
Grassley’s letter comes as lawmakers face a mid-December deadline to pass government funding bills. Separately, Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have rolled out legislation giving the administration an extra $1 billion in emergency funding.
At least Fifteen Governors say no to relocation in their states for now
Governors’s Walker of Wisconsin, Snyder of Michigan, Bentley of Alabama, Abbott of Texas, Jindal of Louisiana, Hutchinson of Arkansas, Pence of Indiana, Baker of Massachusettes, Raunner of Illinois, Hassan of New Hampshire also governors of North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio, Florida, and Mississippi have called on Obama to not consider their states for his Syrian refugee policy. Initial survey of their statements is that most at least have directed that no state resources under their control be used in cooperation with Obama’s policy until they are satisfied that vetting is adequate to insure citizen safety. Tennessee may be soon to follow.
Branstad statement — says no for now as well
Governor Branstad orders halt to Syrian refugee resettlements by state agencies
Today, Gov. Terry Branstad ordered all state agencies to halt any work on Syrian refugee resettlements immediately in order to ensure the security and safety of Iowans. In light of the Paris attacks, resettlement of Syrian refugees in Iowa should cease until a thorough review of the process can be conducted by the U.S. intelligence community and the safety of Iowans can be assured.
- Agency director James Comey tells House Committee on Homeland Security that the coming influx of 10,000 Syrian refugees cannot be thoroughly screened
- Comey tells committee that Syrians who are not already in the FBI’s database cannot be checked
Reading related to the problem of vetting Syrian refugees comes from this Newsweek article about how it is so difficult in country to vet war fighters — Moderate rebels please raise your hands.
. . . according to U.S. counterterrorism veterans, a system that worked pretty well during four decades of the Cold War has been no match for the linguistic, cultural, tribal and political complexities of the Middle East, especially now in Syria. “We’re completely out of our league,” one former CIA vetting expert declared on condition of anonymity, reflecting the consensus of intelligence professionals with firsthand knowledge of the Syrian situation. “To be really honest, very few people know how to vet well. It’s a very specialized skill. It’s extremely difficult to do well” in the best of circumstances, the former operative said. And in Syria it has proved impossible.
Breitbart’s John Hayward — “vetting” these refugees is the greatest insult to the intelligence of American voters
There will be no meaningful vetting of the Syrian migratory tide, as our own Homeland Security apparatus has admitted to Congress. In fact, we’ll be lucky if the majority of them are Syrians. False claims of Syrian origin are the hottest ticket in Europe right now, backed up by a thriving black market in forged and stolen identity papers.
It is by no means clear that even something as basic as genuine Syrian origin could be verified for the number of migrants Obama wants to import to the United States, on the timetable he envisions.
Even if we can at least limit ourselves to refugees who are of guaranteed Syrian origin, the notion of conducting elaborate background checks on them is absurd on its face. They come from a nation in the grip of a savage civil war that has been raging for years. Even before the war began, the Syrian government was not noted for the high quality of its civic institutions. The remaining government infrastructure of the Assad regime has little incentive to cooperate with Americans seeking to validate the credentials of fleeing Syrians.
Veritaspac.com — No humanitarian reason to put humanity at risk in targeted countries
The United States is a target for Islamic extremists whether operating under the auspices of al-Qaeda ISIS or whatever. Infiltration of those legitimately seeking refuge from war is an avenue terrorists are using to get into the United States. There is no “humanitarian” reason to increase the risk to humanity in the United States from a terrorist influx. There is no safe distinction as to sex or adulthood as the world has seen that men and women are often agents of Islamic terrorism and children are also used. Governor Chris Christie has not as yet exhibited his anti-terrorism persona by joining other governors in doing what they can to keep their state’s safe. However in this article he does make a call for the US to help finance refugee re-settlement in Muslim countries. Given the circumstances largely Muslim countries should be responsible for accepting the Muslim refugees. Christian Syrians can be given special consideration here (after vetting) if the Muslim dominated countries will not provide them religious freedoms.
Mike Huckabee goes after Paul Ryan on refugee issue
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee tried to draw new Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) into the debate over Syrian refugees, calling on him to “lead & reject the importation of those fleeing the Middle East.” If Ryan won’t do this, Huckabee said, “he needs to step down today.”
Ryan’s position:
“Look, we’ve always been a generous nation taking in refugees, but this is a unique situation,” . . . “I’ve asked all the committees of jurisdiction in the House to come up with recommendations with how to address this particular situation. So we are looking at all of our [legislative] options … What matters to me is not only do we prevent people from coming in but we don’t bring them in. We’ve got to make sure we’re protecting ourselves.”
But Breitbart reports Freedom Caucus Chairman says no commitment from Ryan
Barack Obama: Let’s Increase Number of Syrian Refugees to US by 100,000 in Next 2 Yrs.
Map Shows Where Obama is Already Settling Syrian Refugees in America
Christians not the problem
VM contributed to this report
