Refugees are already vigorously vetted. I know because I vetted them.
Photo courtesy of the International Rescue Committee
A week ago, President Trump issued an Executive Order that, among other things, suspended the admission of refugees for 120 days while steps were made to ensure that procedures were in place to ensure that all refugee applicants were reliably vetted.
One might wonder whether appropriate refugee vetting took place in the Obama administration. Natasha Hall, a former immigration officer with the Department of Homeland Security, discusses in the Washington Post discusses how the U.S. government carefully scrutinizes applicants for admission into the United States as refugees. She concludes:
“All this information is available to Trump. The only explanation for this order is that refugees are being used by the president to appeal to his base at the expense of U.S. security. Such a move is not only despicable and devastating to the people who desperately crave the safety of our country — it erodes the American legal system by turning it into a political tool.”
KJ