Sen. Jeff Sessions Rep. Marsha Blackburn complained Thursday about the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s failure to submit an annual refugee report to Congress, and warned that the Obama administration’s general approach to the refugee matter is endangering Americans.
Sessions, R-Ala., and Blackburn, D-Tenn., sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell Wednesday, demanding answers on the report that is now more than 10 months late, writing that Congress cannot write a “blank check” to the president and the refugee bureau.
“These are grave matters… Already, at least a dozen individuals admitted to the United States as refugees have been implicated in terrorism in 2015 alone,” Sessions and Blackburn said Thursday.
The Examiner contacted Sessions and Blackburn about that claim.
Their offices provided a list of 12 refugees who have been indicted or found guilty on terrorism-related charges this year. It does not appear any of them were admitted to the U.S. in 2015, and none hailed from Syria. Seven are from Bosnia, two from Somalia, two from Kenya and one from Uzbekistan.
Sessions and Blackburn also warned of the fiscal strain refugee resettlement puts on the United States. “ORR’s operating model is to request funds to place refugees in the United States while not accounting for 1 cent of the cost associated with long-term welfare, healthcare, housing and entitlement benefits,” reads a joint statement.
“For the cost of resettling one refugee in the United States, we could assist 12 refugees in their home region,” Sessions and Blackburn said.
Sessions spokesman Stephen Miller noted there are serious concerns that the “long-term costs” of refugee resettlement are never estimated.
