With the civil war in Syria, many people have fled and where they should be transferred to is an ongoing challenge.
The USA, separated by the Atlantic Ocean, hasn't taken in too many.
Of course, there are concerns about terrorism. In a group of refugees what is the possibility of some terrorists being among them who then conduct Paris-style attacks on some American city?
No governor or mayor wants to be in the position of having to go before the news cameras to report some terrorist incident was the result of the settlement of refugees in their city or state.
Thus, the key is how much "vetting" of refugees take place?
This news item over at CNBC suggests the vetting is pretty thorough.
Some interesting quotes:
One administration official admitted that a lack of records is often a problem for refugees, but "in contrast to that," Syrians and Iraqis tend to be "a very, very heavily documented population." Trained U.S. specialists examine their passports, family registries and military records to assess authenticity, that official said.
..........
"Refugees, including and especially those from Syria and the Middle East, are subject to the most intensive security screenings of anyone entering our country," said Betsy Fischer, deputy policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project. "And because there are all of those security screenings, we think that calls for ceasing Syrian resettlement fundamentally betray a crucial American value."
Here is a clip of the Lynch, the head of the DOJ, testifying that it is challenging to vet refugees but procedures are in place to do so.
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