GOP Battles Syrian Refugee Threat With Vague, Redundant New Restrictions
Don''t ever let congress tell you it will take too long Here they move with "stunning speed"
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/11/gop-pushes-redundant-restrictions-for-refugees.html
November 19, 2015 4:59 a.m.
GOP Battles Syrian Refugee Threat With Vague, Redundant New Restrictions
By Margaret Hartmann
Members of Congress moved with stunning speed to introduce legislation intended to beef up the screening process, and the House is expected to pass the bill on Thursday.
If enacted, the legislation would suspend the admission of Syrian refugees until new policies can be put in place – though they're a bit vague and it's not entirely clear what they'd accomplish. According to the New York Times, most opponents of the current process have not been able to specify what's wrong it, so perhaps that's not surprising.
The legislation introduced by Representatives Michael McCaul and Richard Hudson on Tuesday would put the FBI in charge of conducting background checks, rather than the Department of Homeland Security. As the Huffington Post explains, the current 18- to 24-month process involves DHS working with the FBI, the Department of Defense, and other national security agencies to check applicants' information against multiple databases. The bill says officials "shall take all actions necessary" to conduct a "thorough" background check, but it's not specific about what that means.
The other big change is that the Homeland Security secretary, the director of the FBI, and the Director of National Intelligence would be required to sign off on each refugee, vouching that they aren't a security threat. "If they are certifying themselves — rather than some underling — that this individual does not pose a threat to national security, that’s a strong standard," McCaul said, according to the Wall Street Journal. "They own it. It’s their responsibility."
Obama has committed to accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next year, and to meet that goal, department heads would have to personally certify about 40 refugee applications a day. Presumably, their review wouldn't be very thorough (or the U.S. would aid far fewer refugees), but as the AP notes, there's another benefit: it would assign the top officials "political liability for anything that goes wrong." "They’re basically asking for a guarantee from several different officials that nothing bad will ever happen and that’s a guarantee that no one can give," complained Democratic Representative Adam Smith.
On Wednesday the White House said Obama will veto the legislation in its current form, as it "would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people, instead serving only to create significant delays and obstacles in the fulfillment of a vital program
A handful of Democrats, many of whom are up for reelection, have signaled that they may vote to halt the refugee program. As the House votes on Thursday, ..........
