Members of Congress have introduced about a dozen bills over the last two days to either block Syrian refugees, or impose tougher verification steps on any refugees the U.S. accepts.
The bills reflect the growing worry that Republicans in particular have over taking in up to 10,000 Syrians next year, in light of France’s discovery that one of last week’s attackers entered that country as a refugee.
The House is already expected to pass a bill this week modeled on Richard Hudson, R-N.Y. His bill would prohibit the resettlement of Syrians until the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the Director of National Intelligence can “certify … that each refugee is not a security threat.”
That bill, which has 35 Republican co-sponsors, would also require enhanced background checks on each refugee.
But several other ideas have been put forward, including similar legislation requiring enhanced background checks from House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas.
Rep. Garret Graves, R-La., and three others proposed a similar idea to boost verification standards, and delay refugee resettlements until those standards are in place. “Until we can demonstrate the ability to verify each refugee’s background and intention, there should not be one more admission into the United States,” he said.
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., introduced a Senate version of that bill with five other co-sponsors.
Other members are proposing legislation that would give states the right to refuse Syrian refugees, after it became clear states have little say in where refugees are placed.
“We have no fool-proof way of vetting these refugees and state officials should have the right to protect their citizens by refusing to participate in refugee programs,” Rep. Steve Palazzo, R-Miss., said of his bill to empower states. “This is an insurance policy for the governors to use if the president continues to ignore the will of the American people.”
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, and 14 other House members have a similar idea, and Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., proposed the same idea in his own new bill.
“Current federal law does not clearly give governors the absolute right to refuse,” he said. “We should allow state governors to take action to protect their citizens.”
And other members are proposing bills to prevent any federal funding to be used to place Syrian refugees in the U.S. One of those is from Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., and has three co-sponsors.
“Today, I will be introducing legislation prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used to admit Syrian refugees to the United States because Congress must use its power of the purse to stand up to the president’s inactions to protect our country,” he said Tuesday.
Reps. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., and Curt Clawson, R-Fla., proposed similar defunding bills on their own.
