There has been a lot of discussion lately about Syrian refugees who come to the United States, whether they should or should not be allowed. This blog is meant to give insight into the refugee program, the likelihood of a terrorists entering through the program and some alternatives a terrorist might use to try and gain entry. It's lengthy, but if you are really interested in being informed and understanding the threats to America, you should find this very helpful.
Starting on the road to America as a refugee.
The first thing a refugee must do is apply with the UNHCR. This is the United Nations refugee agency. A Syrian refugee can not apply directly to America.
The UNHCR will decide which country the applicant will be forwarded to: America, Canada, Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil, Mexico, Africa, Australia, China, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, Iran, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and England are all nations in the refugee grab bag.
America has a request that priority be given to orphans, widows with children and people over the age of 60. Of the millions of Syrians displaced so far, the UNHCR has recommend around 30,000 from 2013 to 2015 to the United States. America has accepted slightly over 2,000 refugees since 2011, 67% of which have been women with children.
It can take up to a year to be processed with the UNHCR for applicants they feel may meet U.S. standards. It can then take 2 years or more to go through the American agencies.
In comparison, countries not in a high risk area such as Syria, the whole process from UNHCR to America takes approximately 2 years and is not as rigorous. But even this can take longer. In one case, a woman, her mother and younger sister were forced to flee Somalia in 1999 and contacted the UNHCR. It took 10 years, living in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, her mother passed away and she taught herself the English language before being accepted to the U.S.
Most of the Syrian refugees now in the States said they expected to be sent to an Arab nation. Some stated they had hoped it would be a European country. All were surprised when they were told their host nation might be America.
You are guilty until proven innocent.
An applicant to America will first meet with a U.S. security agent. These agents are specially trained in interview processing. They will fill out an application, be given a biometric exam, photographed, inter-agency screenings and questioned. If it is a family they will all be interviewed both separately and together. Everything will be checked and they must provide documentation. No documents and they won't even be considered by U.S. agents.
For Syrians, documents are a way of life. They live in a police state where children and pets are also heavily documented. They are dealing with a raging civil war, a coalition that makes every week look like a 9/11, chemical weapons are being dropped on them and if that's not enough, there is ISIL and al-Qaeda roaming about.
One Syrian blogger noted, in 2011, that his family packed 3 suitcases. One of those cases alone contained all their documents and some family valuables. In 2013 they were forced to flee, made it to a refugee camp in Turkey, applied with UNHCR and in 2014 resettled to Norway. Overall, they are just as prepared to leave as someone in America who is watching a hurricane or forest fire that may endanger them.
Syrians must provide the names of all family members as well as neighbors, friends, deceased family members, how and on what date their home was destroyed and whether or not any of their family, neighbors or friends have been part of a military organization.
If, for example, a family stated that their home was destroyed in an airstrike on May 4, 2014 and it was found that no bombs were dropped in that area on that date, they will be denied. Even if the applicant was merely mistaken and the airstrike happened on May 6th, or that they stated it happened during the night and an official felt it happened closer to day by his reports.
You are still guilty and you have to do better than that.
But that isn't all for Syrians. They have an additional Syrian Enhanced Review and must meet with five other government agencies: The FBI, State Department, National Terrorism Center, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. They will be checked, screened, interviewed, and given biometric exams. These will be all be repeated throughout their journey. It not only ensures the same people are being interviewed but it cross checks and virtually ensures the person can validate who they are as well as them being victims rather than perpetrators.
Some people wonder exactly what is a biometric exam. We've all heard it by now but not everyone knows understands it. Biometric checks are ways a person can be uniquely identified. Exams include: fingerprints, hand geometry, earlobe geometry, retina and iris patterns, voice waves, DNA and signatures.
If they pass all this they can breath a sigh of relief, right? No yet. They meet a government employee who will interview them on everything they have answered question to the last 2 (+) years along with another biometric security check. They are then sent to a medical doctor. A bit more paperwork and they fly to America where they are welcomed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Transportation Security Administration, and the International Organization of Migrant Travel.
Through this entire process, at any time, anyone may deny an applicant.
Simply not liking a refugee or having a bad feeling about them is acceptable for denying them. The decision can not be challenged and the reason does not have to be given to the candidate.
In May, 2015, the House approved an issue regarding refugees that "insignificant material" does not have to be used against a potential applicant. This arose after it was discovered some applicants had been denied because they gave a drink of water to a dying soldier or gave a cigarette to someone with the rebel forces. (FSA, which America supports) Even though the House stated this does not have to be a factor, it is still widely used. Likewise, a medical doctor can deny, for example, a person because of a scar he sees that raises concern.
If it is a group of people; husband, wife and children, woman with child, sisters, whatever that may be, if one person is denied, they are all denied.
One could argue it would take either the Albert Einstein or the Jethro Bodine of terrorists to risk entering America through the USRAP.
It can easily be seen why a terrorist would prefer an alternate route. Going through the UNHCR is no guarantee they will ask the U.S to host him. And if he is informed that he will be interviewed by Italy, he can not refuse that. And keep in mind again, they must go through the UNHCR's collection of nations to be referred to American and be met with the toughest regulations in the world.
Once denied, all their information; biometric exam, photographs, documents is still kept on a data base. Applying somewhere else and getting rejected again can put them on a higher alert list. All this on top of possibly wasting more than 2 years of their life.
It would be much easier to apply for a visa. That only takes two months. There are several types of visas they may apply through, immigration, student, business, religious, visitor are just a few of all available. Now, granted, if you are from a high risk country it will still not be easy, but it is much easier than the refugee program. The process is basically, applying, paying a fee, scheduling an interview, having some ID, possibly a biometric exam for high risk nations and then waiting.
If you happen to be a citizen from a U.S. friendly nation, you can obtain a visa in as short as two days. And that is by far less of a risk than any route a radicalized terrorist could legally take to enter the country. In many cases the in-person interview is not conducted and you just upload some identification along with your application and pay a fee.
Once in America qualifying people can apply for political asylum. This is what the Boston marathon bombers family did. They were not refugees, instead they entered with immigration visas and applied for political asylum. The USCIS, a judge and the EOIR handles this process. There are several Syrians who have entered the United States by using visas and are now under political asylum.
Another route would be to get a visa to Canada or Mexico and try and cross the border. Recently, 6 Pakistanis and 1 Afghanistan citizen were caught after illegally crossing the border in Arizona. Also, some Syrians with illegal visas were caught in Mexico and two Syrian families with Mexican visas turned themselves in to U.S. immigration at the border. This is happening more and more.
As seen recently in the horrific attack in Paris, ISIL terrorists are being radicalized outside of Syria. They are citizens of the countries they are attacking. ISIL is effectively using the internet to recruit young men and women to join their extremists group. Ranging mostly from teens to college students they use a network of recruiters to begin the radicalization process.
While visas and the Mexican/Canadian border remain a genuine risk, United States citizens pose the biggest threat. Though they will not give exact numbers, the U.S. government has confirmed a small number of U.S. citizens have joined ISIL. A little over 100 have gone to Syria. A larger number who's number they will also not give out, have gone to join the Free Syrian Army, giving aid or have joined a jihadists group.
A man from Florida carried out a Syrian suicide bombing mission in 2014, a guy from England showed the beheading of American journalist James Foley. A Sunday school teacher from Washington State was stopped as she prepared to join ISIL. She planned to take her 11 year old brother, who had no nothing to do with it, as her escort. An Irish-American girl from Virginia was charged with helping ISIL to recruit. A German journalist went to Syria to interview ISIL members, he has joined. A Canadian who went over to help fight with the rebel forces is now with the terrorist group.
If you should find yourself living next door to a refugee, you should be relieved. It's safer living next to them than it is a 15-30 year old American who is spending hours on the internet each night.
