Loading ...White House offers governors more info on refugees
The White House on Monday offered Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and other governors more access to information about refugees resettled in their states but made no mention of demands made by several that Syrian refugee resettlements be suspended after the Nov. 13 Paris attacks.
In a letter obtained by the Free Press, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough proposed to Snyder and 33 other governors who participated in a call with him the week after the Paris attacks that the nation’s governors could, if they wished, get updates — including monthly, if they chose — on how many refugees are resettled in their states, as well as the nationalities, age ranges and gender of the refugees.
The information would be provided only after the refugees are resettled in a state, however, and would not include specific identifying information about them, underscoring not only President Barack Obama’s insistence that the refugee resettlement program continue at full speed despite efforts to slow it down but also the scant role governors have in determining where refugees live in the U.S.
“This proposal responds to the governors’ input while protecting the privacy of refugee families,” McDonough said in the letter, which also mentioned the likelihood of future talks between the Obama administration and the governors about the refugee vetting process.
Snyder’s office didn’t respond directly to McDonough’s letter, but spokesman David Murray noted that the governor — who never said he was opposed to more refugees coming to Michigan, only that he wouldn’t actively encourage it for now — “continues to be engaged in discussions concerning background checks and other procedures for accepting refugees” into the U.S. with federal officials.
The letter, however, was unlikely to satisfy other governors who, in several cases, suggested they would instruct key agencies and departments in their states not to work with the resettlement program or oppose them outright, though it was unclear what practical effect those instructions would have. As for McDonough’s letter, much of the information that would be supplied to governors is already available via the State Department but would be tailored to a governor’s request under the proposal outlined in the letter.
Michigan has been the arrival state for more Syrians and Iraqis than almost any other state in the nation since the beginning of 2013. The most recent State Department data available indicates of the 2,225 Syrians resettled in the U.S., 211 came to Michigan, trailing only California (243) and Texas (236). In terms of Iraqi refugees, only California, with 7,602, has received more than Michigan’s 6,660.
And with Michigan’s sizable Arab-American community, affordable housing, access to translators and significant familial ties with many displaced by fighting in Syria and Iraq, the state is almost certain to gain even more refugees through a process coordinated by the Homeland Security Department, the State Department and nonprofit organizations.
Ahmed Qazwini, 29, of Dearborn, a Muslim scholar studying to be an imam — or Muslim holy man — said he was comfortable with the Obama administration’s pledge not to identify individual refugees to state authorities.
The federal government “has the right to know exactly who has come … as long as it’s done to all refugees, not just Syrian or Muslim refugees,” said Qazwini, who led a rally in Dearborn last week of Muslims opposed to ISIS terror.
The identities of refugees need not be released to state authorities because “we don’t want any type of racial or ethnic discrimination” against newcomers, Qazwini said. He added that Americans and Europeans overreacted to news that a Syrian passport, later deemed forged, was found near the body of a slain terrorist in the recent Paris attack.
State Rep. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, said the forged Syrian passport found in Paris should concern Americans because forged documents have long been used by people seeking illegal entry to the U.S.
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with in the Middle East, where ISIS has overrun cities and they’re creating numerous fake IDs and numerous sleeper cells” aimed at infiltrating other nations, he said.
Runestad said he hopes to introduce two bills this month that would slow all immigration to Michigan, so that it can proceed safely, he said.
As a state, “We don’t have the ability to tell the feds what to do, but we do hold the purse-strings, and we can withhold the money needed to resettle these refugees until it’s done with proper security controls,” he said.
Monday’s letter went out as the Obama White House also unveiled plans to make additional security enhancements to the Visa Waiver Program, which allows residents from more than three dozen nations around the world to travel to the U.S. Those changes include gathering information about any past visits a traveler may have made to countries linked with terrorism.
The refugee resettlement program and the Visa Waiver Program came under scrutiny in the wake of the Paris attacks Nov. 13, which killed more than 130 people. ISIS, otherwise known as the Islamic State or ISIL, is a key combatant in fighting in Syria and Iraq, which has displaced millions of people. The group also took credit for the attacks in Paris and fears grew that it might try to infiltrate western nations through resettlement programs.
Snyder, who had previously encouraged Syrian refugees to resettle in Michigan, was among the first to raise concerns, saying he would suspend his own efforts to attract refugees until the Department of Homeland Security reviewed the vetting of refugees before allowing them into the U.S. But he stopped far short of several other governors’ demands that no refugees be resettled in their states for now.
The Obama administration, meanwhile, has maintained its intention to resettle some 25,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. by October 2016 and reiterated that the refugee resettlement process — which can take years — is comprehensive and robust. In the letter to governors, McDonough also noted the officials “continually evaluate whether more precautions are necessary.”
The call with governors, held Nov. 17, lasted about 1½ hours and, according to the administration, included “an extensive question-and-answer session” on the security process used to vet refugees, especially those from Syria and Iraq. The process involves multiple agencies, security interviews with potential refugees and screening against intelligence databases.
Most of the refugees are children, the administration has noted, and the resettlement program is a key part of the nation’s humanitarian efforts worldwide as well as to its maintaining a coalition of Middle Eastern allies fighting ISIS.
Source: www.freep.com