Posted on 10/07/2016 8:37:39 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
The United States runs the names of potential refugees through terrorism and law enforcement databases and conducts health screenings — but makes no effort to learn whether they harbor extremist views, an administration official acknowledged Wednesday.
Simon Henshaw, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, made the admission during testimony at a Senate hearing on President Obama’s Syrian refugee program.
Republicans on the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and The National Interest have expressed concerns that Obama’s decision to admit more than 10,000 Syrian refugees over the past 12 months and his plan to increase that number in the coming 12 months is reckless in light of the threat posed by Islamic extremism.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican who chairs the subcommittee, grilled Henshaw about the procedures for screening refugee applicants. “Do you make any inquiry about practices that we reject in the United States, like female genital mutilation?” he asked. “Do you say, ‘Do you believe in that and when you come to the United States will you comply with the laws of the United States on that kind of question?'”
Henshaw said U.S. officials explain American law and customs but do not inquire about refugees’ political beliefs.
“On all questions, we make it clear to refugees that we’re a nation of laws and that they need to comply with our laws,” he said.
Sessions pointed to a Justice Department report indicating that the United States last year experienced 27 “honor killings,” a practice that wins widespread approval in some Muslim-dominated countries that practice Sharia law.
Henshaw drew a distinction between Muslim refugees and other Muslim immigrants.
“I’m not sure those honor killings took place among the resettled refugee community in the United States,” he said.
Henshaw said the government operates a cultural orientation program and insisted that refugees make a smooth transition to Americanism.
"Senator, I see no evidence to show that refugee communities are bringing these values into the United States," he said. "I see that they're becoming good American citizens, members of the military, members of our police … people that have U.S.-American values."
Sessions noted that the perpetrators of Muslim honor killings come from the same cultural backgrounds as refugees. He also noted that 40 refugees have been charged with terrorism-related crimes in the United States.
"So you're not perfect in your admission, I have to admit," Sessions said.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has proposed adding an ideological component to America's screening procedures to try to weed out people who would be hostile to American values. It is an idea first floated by Trump adviser and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in July.
There is strong evidence that many Muslims hold views that clash with Western norms. In the U.K., police recorded more than 11,000 "honor" crimes between 2010 and 2014. A British think tank counted 18 honor killings in that country from 2010 to 2014.
A 2013 survey sponsored by Pew Research Center fond that 99 percent of Muslims in Afghanistan and 91 percent of Iraqi Muslims favored making Sharia law the official law of their countries. A 2011 Pew survey found that 40 percent of Pakistanis believed it is often or sometimes justified to kill a woman engaged in premarital sex or adultery in order to protect the family's honor.
Aside from security questions, Sessions probed Henshaw about whether the education and language skills of refugees make them a good fit for the United States. Henshaw acknowledged that the government's decisions to grant refugee applications "are based [exclusively] on their vulnerabilities."
But he added, "I have to say, we receive many refugees with a high level of education, particularly from the Middle East."
The government's own statistics suggest that is an exaggeration, however. According to the latest report by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, refugees from the Middle East in 2014 — the most recent year available — had an average of 10.9 years of education before entering the United States. That was above average for refugees, as was the 20 percent who had a college degree.
But it was still below the education level of Americans, and it did not translate into job success. Only 37.1 percent of Middle East refugees were working, compared with the overall refugee rate of 48.5 percent.
Curious, is it not, that our gummint is adamant they are just going to bring these folks in and just turn them lose. At the same time you can bet the NSA can give you an exact, hour by hour, location of every NRA member and has copies of every phone call and email.
The charming Muslim couple who murdered 14 of his co-workers at their “Holiday Party” (PC until the end) had beenn vetted three times by our feckless authorities and were never asked about their travel to known ISIS areas. Do not depend on the government to protect your family.
If I was stuck with such a ridiculous title, I'd seriously consider...
Why do they want to kill us? No not terrorists, Democrats!-)
“Senator, I see no evidence to show that refugee communities are bringing these values into the United States,” he said. “I see that they’re becoming good American citizens, members of the military, members of our police … people that have U.S.-American values.”
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It is impossible for muslims to be good Americans.
They are commanded by their prophet and his instructions in their book to see that Islam reigns supreme and that sharia replaces the Constitution.
Islam is completely incompatible with civilization.
Apart rom getting their travel history, how are they going to vet these folks? I doubt if asking them whether they believe in sharia law, punishing gays, women, Jews, Christians, etc. will get an honest answer out of them.
They post a serious risk as a group, so should be limited to only a few exceptions - Christians and Jews and B’hais, perhaps, who are escaping a ME hellhole?
A well trained immigration officer would have no problem extracting the information. It is quite easy to trip up an applicant who is lying because they don't know exactly what you are after. Immigration officer have been doing this for years and can spot a fraud in short order.
The problem is they are NOT allowed to inquire into such matters.
The key here is that there needs to be a ideological test not a religious one.
We bared communists and national socialists from entering the US since WWII based on there ideology not their religon. So there is no constitutional problem in updating and tailoring our current admissions procedures to address our current threats.
In fact not to do so is misfeasance.
Every single member of Congress should be voted out of office, for having failed to impeach the Marxist, terrorist loving traitor, holed up in our White House.
Shame and dishonor on ALL of you bastards!
And even if they were asked, does anyone - even the gov - honestly think they won’t lie. Paper trails? What kind of records do you think are actually kept in countries like somalia or afghanistan.
Asking these people their “views” is as effective as putting a sticker on a store, hospital etc. entrance saying no firearms allowed. Anyone know of a bad guy who hesitated at all because of that “warning”.
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