Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail are pushing the Obama administration for major reforms to the refugee program after the arrest of two Iraq-born refugees on terror-related charges.
On Friday, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee called for an overhaul of the security vetting of Iraq and Syrian refugees.
“While I commend the FBI for their hard work, these arrests heighten my concern that our refugee program is susceptible to exploitation by terrorists,” said Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas. “The president has assured us that individuals from Iraq and Syria receive close scrutiny, but it is clearly not enough.”
The FBI made the arrests in Sacramento and Houston. While it is unclear whether the arrests are directly related, they have clear similarities. Both men were Palestinians born in Iraq who came into the United States as children through an Iraqi refugee program.
Both are accused of lying about their alleged ties to terrorist organizations, and one of the men is charged with attempting to provide material support to the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
McCaul seized on the arrests as a sign that a bill he previously authored that would provide more vetting of Iraqi and Syrian refugees is desperately needed. He called on the Senate to take up the bill immediately.
“We cannot delay while more potential jihadists slip through the cracks,” he said. “Terrorist groups like ISIS have owed to use these programs to infiltrate the West, and now it is clearer than ever that we should take them at their word.”
Also Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and top GOP presidential contender, urged congressional leaders to immediately take up his bill suspending U.S. refugee programs from countries where the Islamic State and al Qaeda control significant territory and giving governors the ability to opt out of it.
Cruz also called for a retroactive assessment of refugees who have been admitted to the United States previously.
“We need a comprehensive and thorough review to make sure we are keeping this country safe …,” he said in a statement. “I commend law enforcement for apprehending these two individuals, but their apprehension raises the immediate question: Who else is there? What are they planning next?”
On the same day Republicans were calling for change, the White House said it was confident the current refugee program is secure, and noted the men were arrested before any terrorist event took place.
The push from Republicans came the same day a police officer in Philadelphia was shot multiple times as he sat in his patrol car by a suspect who said in a confession that he did it in the name of Islam.
In November, the House passed McCaul’s bill, known as the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, or SAFE Act, which requires comprehensive background checks of every refugee from Iraq or Syria before they can be admitted into the United States. The measure also requires U.S. national security authorities that each does not pose a threat.
As Democrats and Republicans clashed last fall over allowing a flood of Syrian refugees into the country, Obama threatened to veto the SAFE Act and argued it would divert resources from current screening efforts and shutdown any effort to allow refugees into the country. He also said it would hurt U.S. leadership in trying to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis.
In his veto statement, Obama pointed out that “of the 2,174 Syrian refugees admitted to the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, not a single one has been arrested or deported on terrorism-related grounds.”
