via Terrorists Enter U.S. via Resettlement Program for “Vulnerable Refugees” | Judicial Watch.
Islamic terrorists—including two al Qaeda
affiliates indicted last year in Kentucky—have entered the United States
legally through a resettlement program that helps tens of thousands of “the world’s most vulnerable refugees” start a new life in America each year.
Known as the U.S. Refugee Admissions
Program (USRAP), it’s a joint venture between the State Department and
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Homeland Security
agency that oversees the nation’s lawful immigration. The two agencies
are responsible for deciding which refugees are granted USRAP
resettlement consideration. USCIS is hands on and conducts individual,
in-person interviews with applicants to determine if they meet the
refugee criteria.
Most of the refugee referrals are made by the notoriously corrupt United Nations, which has published an extensive handbook
on the subject. In a nutshell here is the criteria; a refugee must have
a well-founded fear of persecution based on at least one of the
following—religion, political opinion, race or nationality. This means
there is a continued need for protection and candidates should be
granted permanent residence status with access to rights similar to
those enjoyed by nationals, according to the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) guide.
In fiscal year 2011 Uncle Sam generously offered 56,424 persecuted foreigners refuge and in fiscal year 2012 the number increased to 58,236, according Barbara Strack, the Refugee Affairs Division Chief at USCIS. This week Strack testified at a congressional hearing, “Terrorist Exploitation of Refugee Programs,” that
addressed the serious security vulnerabilities in her division. She
told the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligencethat the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “has been working closely with
interagency partners to improve, refine, and streamline the security
vetting regime for refugee applicants and for other immigration
categories.”
Last May two Iraqi nationals who were
given refugee status under USRAP were arrested and federally indicted
for plotting to send weapons and money to al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) as well
as conspiracy to kill U.S. national abroad. The men, Waad Ramadan Alwan
and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, lived in Kentucky and have pleaded guilty
to the charges, which are outlined in this FBI document. They are scheduled to be sentenced early next year.
At this week’s hearing, the congressman
who chairs the counterterrorism and intelligence committee revealed that
the Kentucky case is not a fluke and that the “threat posed by refugees with ties to al Qaeda is much broader than was previously believed.” He
reiterated the testimony of FBI Director Robert Mueller before a House
Intelligence Committee last year, in which the FBI chief admitted
ongoing concerns about individuals who may have been resettled here in
the United States that have some association with al Qaeda in Iraq.
USRAP, which has helped relocate millions
of refugees over the decades, has come under fire in recent years
because it’s gotten too big and security measures are lax. A report
released last year by a nonprofit that researches immigration matters
says this is because the U.S. has lost control of the program, instead
surrendering to U.N. policies to determine who’s admitted and because
meaningful background checks are difficult to obtain for refugees
admitted from countries without reliable government records.
As a result the program is a
bloated disaster, admitting nearly three times the number of refugees as
the rest of the developed world combined, the probe found.
Additionally, the investigation found that
“common criminals, war criminals, international fugitives, and
terrorists have all used the USRAP and its related asylum provisions for
entry into the United States.” Here is another interesting
tidbit: “Bribery of U.N. officials is commonly reported among those
attempting to secure refugee admission to the United States.”
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