The FBI has dramatically slowed the pace of security reviews for refugees in recent months, which former Trump administration officials and human rights advocates say is part of an intentional bid by White House hardliners to restrict the number of refugees allowed in the U.S.

Former officials and aid organizations say the administration has overloaded the FBI and other government agencies with an array of procedures that have weighed down the bureaucracy and effectively delayed refugee admissions.

“It’s a precipitous decline,” said one former official who worked on refugee issues before leaving government earlier this year.

Refugee admissions have plunged to historic lows. The U.S. is on track to admit only about 20,000 – 21,000 refugees by the end of September, far below a ceiling set at 45,000 by administration officials last year. That cap itself was lower than any set by a U.S. president since the current refugee program was created in 1980.

The delays in security screening coincide with an intense debate inside the administration over how many refugees should be permitted to enter the country next fiscal year, with political appointees pushing for an unprecedented brake on refugee admissions.

The FBI screening mainly involves sifting through databases to check if the refugee applicant has no links to extremists. On some days, the FBI has managed to review only a handful of cases, creating a bottleneck in the processing of refugee applications, humanitarian workers and two former officials who served under President Donald Trump told NBC News. [So who are the former officials too chicken to go on the record?—ed]

[….]

Administration officials insisted the FBI is not dragging its feet. The bureau is merely following new procedures that require checks of additional databases to weed out any potential terrorists, they said.

The FBI is one of several agencies involved in vetting refugees seeking to come to the United States, starting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and including the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

[….]

“There is no evidence of a significant threat from refugees as a group,” said Karen Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University Law School.

Of 175 cases prosecuted in the U.S. against ISIS supporters, she said, 11 were refugees or had received asylum status. 

Nicholas Rasmussen, head of the National Counterterrorism Center until December 2017, said that refugees were overshadowed by more serious terrorist dangers during his time in office.

“While terrorist organizations sometimes mused about the idea of using refugee and other immigration programs to try and move people into the United States, it was our assessment that this was actually quite difficult for them.” [What about the 300 cases Comey was looking at?—ed]

“While there is some degree of risk that we assume with any category of immigrants, our recent experience has not shown that the refugee population presents a particular threat from a terrorism perspective,” Rasmussen told NBC News.

In recent policy discussions at the White House, officials arguing for a lower refugee cap have cited three incidents as evidence of the purported threat posed by refugees.

One involves an Ethiopian refugee in Virginia who did not disclose his role in persecuting Ethiopians for their political opinions. Another featured an Iraqi refugee arrested in California based on an Iraqi court warrant alleging he was an ISIS killer. Another Iraqi refugee was accused of shooting a police officer in Colorado Springs, though not fatally. All of these occurred this month. [We told you about the three recent cases, you can find those in my ‘crimes category’ here.—-ed]

However, former officials say that in the two cases involving Iraqis, additional security procedures were introduced under the Obama administration that would have prevented those individuals from entering the country.

What the hell are they talking about!

Only as a result of the two Iraqi terrorists (found in KY) did the Obama Administration step up screening!  Those two were after all, refugees who came in during Obama’s tenure. The latest two Iraqis (alleged terrorist and cop shooter) did come in during the Obama Admin as well, so how does he now get brownie-points for stepped-up screening.

In 2011 and 2012, thousands of Iraqis were re-screened resulting in a slowdown of Iraqis entering the US and not one media outlet was screeching about Obama’s increased screening!  

Obama=good. Trump=bad (no matter what the issue!).

More here.  And, don’t miss the obligatory hit on Stephen Miller!

What you must do!

Contact the White House and tell the President that you want MORE SCREENING (not less!) of refugees coming in to live next door to you!