Reuters
February 3, 2016
The
United States has recently rejected 30 Syrians out of thousands seeking
to enter the country, Obama administration officials told a
congressional panel on Wednesday,
as the United States tightens vetting of immigrants and other visitors
following attacks in California and Paris.
In
addition, hundreds of applications from Syrian refugees have been put
on hold and many might ultimately be rejected, Leon Rodriguez, director
of the Citizenship and
Immigration Services unit of the Department of Homeland Security, told
the committee.
A spokesman for Rodriguez later said that the 30 Syrian refugee applications had been rejected over the last 16 months.
At
a time when millions of refugees are arriving in Europe and elsewhere
from the Middle East and Africa, Democratic President Barack Obama's
pledge to take in 10,000
people fleeing war-torn Syria has come under fire, especially from
Republicans. The United States so far has admitted 2,000 refugees.
Michael
McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives
Homeland Security Committee, said at a hearing that authorities have
identified about 40 violent
militants who had attempted to enter Europe posing as refugees.
Other
committee Republicans at the hearing questioned why the Obama
administration wanted to admit any Syrian refugees, given that the
Syria-based Islamic State movement
has pledged to attack the United States and other western countries.
"Our
intelligence community has ... told me that individuals with terrorism
ties in Syria have already tried to gain access to our country through
the refugee program,"
McCaul said.
"What’s
even more concerning is that top officials have testified before this
committee that intelligence gaps prevent us from being able to
confidently weed out terrorists,"
he said.
Rodriguez
and other Homeland Security and State Department officials told the
committee that U.S. procedures for vetting Syrian refugees were among
the most rigorous in
the world.
U.S.
agencies have tightened procedures for checking backgrounds of would-be
U.S. immigrants and visitors after a recent arrival from the Middle
East was one of two shooters
who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.
Francis
Taylor, the Homeland Security Department's intelligence chief, said his
department was routinely doing social media checks on would-be
immigrants and visitors.
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