I’ll believe it when I see it! 58,000! No way!
This is a story from the Chicago Tribune, reported by Debbie Schlussel (Hat tip: Richard Falknor at Blue Ridge Forum):
Reporting from Washington— In a far-reaching inquiry, authorities are rescreening more than 58,000 Iraqi refugees living in the United States amid concerns that lapses in immigration security may have allowed former insurgents and potential terrorists to enter the country, U.S. officials said.
The investigation was given added urgency after U.S. intelligence agencies warned that Al Qaeda leaders in Iraq and Yemen had tried to target the U.S. refugee stream, or exploit other immigration loopholes, in an attempt to infiltrate the country with operatives.
The rescreening began late last year after the FBI learned that an Iraqi man in Kentucky had participated in roadside bomb attacks in Iraq before he was granted U.S. political asylum in 2009. He and another Iraqi refugee were arrested in an FBI sting in May on charges of trying to send explosives and missiles to Iraq for use against Americans.
So far, immigration authorities have given the FBI about 300 names of Iraqi refugees for further investigation. The FBI won’t say whether any have been arrested or pose a potential threat.
Other refugees being rescreened!
It addition to the Iraqis, authorities have rescreened a smaller number of refugees from Yemen, Somalia and other countries where terrorist groups are active. [Yemen? Since when do we take “refugees” from Yemen, must be something new or maybe they mean asylees?]
U.S. officials say they have tried to plug the gaps as quickly as possible.
You can bet they want to plug the gap—or defuse the time bomb! They have an image of “refugees” they need to preserve—you know that they are all just here for a better life, are grateful and love America.
Later in the article we get this profound line:
The case has exposed several immigration and intelligence security gaps.
Yup!
It was Bush’s fault!
Debbie Schlussel blames much of this on Bush (and he deserves criticism), but toward the end of his administration the NGOs—-the refugee lobby—worked in tandem throughout 2008 with AP reporter Matthew Lee every month, like clockwork literally just hours after midnight, to report the Iraqi refugee numbers. It got so ridiculous I watched and reported their shenanigans every month—Lee would report the (low) number of Iraqis arriving in the US with requisite critical quotes from these NGOs aimed at the evil George Bush.
The numbers never satisfied them. And, no amount of explanation from a few valiant lawyers at Homeland Security saying that they had to check these people carefully would satisfy them. I know Bush should have been tougher, but the pressure was relentless (and some of it came from Republicans like Grover Norquist and David Keene, but that is another long story). Here is one post where I reported that Lee had been awol, but I learned it was because the numbers were coming up and they couldn’t criticize Bush.
So, I blame the refugee lobby and their media lapdogs for the rush to bring so many unscreened Iraqis here. At one point when Obama came to office, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress wanted over 100,000 Iraqis AIRLIFTED TO THE US in one fell swoop!
Will the ACLU, CAIR and the resettlement agencies step in to block interviews of Iraqis?
That is not such a far-fetched notion because they did attempt to block interviews of Iraqis in 2003 (I reported on the case in 2007, here). A Tennessee resettlement agency refused to help the Feds find some Iraqis they had resettled.