Guest Commentary:
Obama rushes to admit 100,000 “refugees” before his term ends
By Natalia Castro
President Obama once pledged to admit 100,000 refugees from around the world into the country by the end of 2016. Recently, he has decided that number was simply not enough, he has rushed the vetting process in order to admit another 10,000 refugees by the end of the year, with a majority of the new additions coming from Middle East nations. However, with an already inadequate vetting process now being accelerated, the chance of another terror attack on our soil due to President Obama’s reckless actions is higher than ever.
In October, FBI director James Comes admitted during a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing that “if someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interest reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home, but there will be nothing show up because we have no record of them.”
Gina Kassem, the regional refugee coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan who noted that “while the resettlement process usually takes 18 to 24 months, the surge operation will reduce the time to three months.”
Meaning that with ease, an individual eager to commit their first terror attack can move into the U.S. without any knowledge from government officials. Unfortunately, this is not a speculation or a far-reaching theory of an action that might occur. One of the suicide bombers killing himself just outside of France’s national sports stadium in November was posing as a Syrian refugee to gain access into Europe.
With President Obama’s increase in refugee admittances, this process is being sped up to even further submit our nation’s people to even more terrorist attacks. The Associated Press report of April 2016 cited Gina Kassem, the regional refugee coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan who noted that “while the resettlement process usually takes 18 to 24 months, the surge operation will reduce the time to three months.”
Making it even more difficult to properly vet the refugees entering the country.
Congress has attempted to combat this growing problem, however with pushback from Democrats and a constant veto threat from President Obama legislation has been weak at best. The House overwhelmingly passed the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act of 2015 aimed at improving the vetting system, but the bill still neglects key security risks.
For example, the bill grants further screening for individuals coming from Iraq and Syria; ignoring U.S. Department of State data which also shows 3,858 visas come from Jordan, 2,008 visas come from Lebanon, 7,049 visas come from Iran, and many more nations known for having a presence of terror.
With an uncooperative White House, there is little possibility for a successful and adequate piece of legislation being produced.
Until Congress is able to negotiate legitimate vetting policy dealing with refugees, allowing them to enter the country uninhibited places a substantial risk on all of the American people. It is not a matter of refusing to allow them to enter, it is a matter of ensuring that the individuals who do enter are coming to integrate into American culture not destroy it. Until then, what’s the rush?
As long as we have a President who believes in his sole ability to make this critical decision to admit tens of thousands of refugees despite backlash from both Congress and the FBI that admits the current screening process is flawed, the American people are not safe. We need a leader who will focus on our safety above all others.
Natalia Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.