White House, Congress clash over Syrian refugees in wake of Paris attacks
WASHINGTON — A top administration official said Sunday that the U.S. government is carefully vetting Syrian refugees to make sure there are no terrorists among them, but congressional Republicans were skeptical.
One of the suicide bombers involved in the terrorist attacks on Paris reportedly entered through Greece amid Syrian refugees.
"We have very extensive screening procedures for all Syrian refugees who come to the United States," said White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes on NBC's Meet the Press. "There is a very careful vetting process that includes our intelligence community, our Counterterrorism Center and the Department of Homeland Security."
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., a member of the House homeland security and intelligence committees, said the administration is "rolling the dice" by taking in Syrian refugees. He said there is no true vetting process because there are no government records or databases in Syria to confirm the identities of the refugees.
"We don't know who these people are," King said on Fox News Sunday.
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He said President Obama should immediately stop taking Syrian refugees into the United States. Obama has said he wants the United States to take in at least 10,000 refugees who are fleeing for their lives from war-torn Syria.
"He should absolutely suspend it (the refugee program) unless they can show 100 percent that a person is not involved with ISIS," King said, referring to Islamic State terrorists."Right now, there is no responsible way to do the vetting, and that’s the reality."
Rhodes said the United States should not turn its back on the refugees.
"Let’s remember we’re also dealing with people who suffer the horrors of war," he said. "Women and children, orphans. We can’t just shut our doors to those people. We need to do our part to take refugees in need."
House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said there are "gaping holes" in the vetting system for the Syrian refugees.
"We (Congress) don't want to be complicit in a program that could bring terrorists into the U.S.," he said.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security has scheduled a hearing Thursday on the Syrian refugee crisis and its implications for U.S. security.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a candidate for the GOP nomination for president, said most of the refugees are innocent people, but that Islamic State terrorists may be hiding among them.
"This is a swarm of refugees," he said. "You can have 1,000 people come in, and 999 of them are just poor people fleeing oppression and violence, but one of them is an ISIS fighter. If that’s the case, you have a problem, and there is no way to vet that out."