They must really be seeing something they aren’t telling us about for Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson to be so forthcoming at a Congressional hearing yesterday.
And, it isn’t just the Syrians and Iraqis we should worry about!
From The Hill:
The head of the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday said that the United States’s acceptance of Syrian refugees could pose a national security threat.
Even as President Obama has called for the U.S. to welcome 10,000 Syrian refugees this year, Secretary Jeh Johnson maintained during a hearing on Capitol Hill that the initiative is not risk-free.
“In all candor, I do agree that the refugee flow coming out of Iraq and Syria represents a potential opportunity for terrorist organizations to move its members into other nations for potential attacks,” Johnson testified before the House Homeland Security Committee. “So I agree that there is that potential, which is why just within the last several months we have enhanced our vetting for refugees.”
The claim hints at the problems vexing the Obama administration as it seeks to ramp up the number of refugees brought into the country.
The administration is so far falling far behind Obama’s pledge to bring in 10,000 new Syrian refugees this fiscal year. Since October, the U.S. has brought in just 1,115 of the refugees.
Meanwhile, during this same time period, Canada has admitted 25,000 Syrians with apparently little concern for thorough vetting.
How about security threats from other countries? What do the numbers look like?
(The 2016 fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2016, numbers below are through February 29th—5 months).
Truth be told: they can’t screen the others below any better than the Syrians!
Syria: 955 (with 946 of those being Muslims). Not sure where The Hill got the 1,115.
Iraq: 3,476 (2,856 are Muslims)
Somalia: 3,036 (3,034 are Muslims)
Burma: 4,774 (1,135 are Muslims) Yikes! We must be making a big push to get those Rohingya Muslims in to the US before Obama leaves office. I had no idea the number of Burmese Muslims would be this high!
Be sure to see our whole category on the Rohingya of Burma/Bangladesh. Scary!
If you missed it, see the New York Times on terror threat posed by refugee program, here.