Arkansas joins other states in rejecting war refugees
By Roy Ockert Jr.
Nov. 24, 2015
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson joined about 20 other governors, most of them in the Bible Belt, last week in pulling the welcome mat away from Syrian refugees who might find their way to Arkansas.
While on a trade mission to Japan in pursuit of foreign business, Hutchinson issued this statement: “I’ve … asked our Department of Human Services to resist the efforts of the federal government in utilizing our resources in this state for refugee relocation.”
Of course, the governors have no legal standing in deciding the United States’ immigration policies, but Hutchinson wanted to make his voice heard in a growing national controversy. Basically, they think our Christian nation should say, “There’s no room at our inn. Go somewhere else.”
Their reasoning can best be explained by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also known as a candidate for president: “My argument is that we can’t allow anyone in this country that we can’t vet. And I believe that the vast majority of refugees that are trying to come here are people that we will not be able to vet.”
Fortunately for Rubio, that wasn’t the case in the 1950s when his parents sought refuge in the United States from their Cuban homeland.
These politicians are playing on the fears of Americans in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and Mali, albeit in spite of the lack of any credible evidence that even a single Syrian refugee was responsible for either. Somehow, terrorists could hide among the refugees coming to the United States, then contend, and then wreak havoc here.
That’s absurd, and it’s disappointing that our governor and other political leaders would fall in among these false prophets.
More than 4 million people have fled Syria because of civil war in that nation — a civil war so complicated that no one can seem to tell who’s on which side. Those who don’t pick sides are most exposed. The United States and its allies have pledged to take in Syrian refugees. The Obama administration proposes 10,000, a modest commitment considering the total number.
Since 2011 the United States has admitted fewer than 2,000 Syrian refugees, not one of whom has yet proven to be a terrorist. Arkansas has hosted one refugee, Omar Al-Muqdad, a 32-year-old journalist who settled in Fayetteville in 2012 with the help of Catholic Charities, the Diocese of Little Rock and St. Joseph Parish of Fayetteville. By all accounts, he has been a model citizen and is now living in Alexandria, Va.
That doesn’t mean a terrorist couldn’t come in with other refugees, but he would be foolish to go through the extensive vetting process. It would be much easier just to walk across our border with Canada or Mexico or come here on a visa.
In fact, the United States has a tuition waiver agreement with 38 other countries, allowing foreigners to enter and stay as long as 90 days without even obtaining a visa or having an in-person interview at an embassy or consulate.
The New York Times last week listed the 20-step process that a refugee must follow to settle in the United States. It includes two interviews, two or three background checks, three fingerprint screenings, a case review by Homeland Security and a cultural orientation class. The whole process takes about two years.
Why bother if your only purpose in coming here is to wreak havoc?
Scott Hicks, an immigration lawyer in Lebanon, Ohio, recently posted an Internet article explaining the process, pointing out that “most people languish in temporary camps for months to years while their story is evaluated and checked.”
“First, you do not get to choose what country you might be resettled into,” he wrote. “If you already have family (legal) in a country, that makes it more likely that you will go there to be with family, but other than that it is random. So you can not simply walk into a refugee camp, show a document, and say, ‘I want to go to America.’”
Nevertheless, the U.S. House of Representatives last week approved legislation to further tighten refugee screening procedures, with 47 Democrats joining the Republican majority to produce a 289-137 vote. The legislation would make the FBI the primary agency for conducting backgrounds checks, instead of Homeland Security, and would require three agency heads to agree that each refugee isn’t a security threat. That would effectively halt the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the United States.
The legislation now goes to the Senate. President Obama has promised a veto, but if enough Democrats join the majority, as in the House, his veto could be overridden.
Meanwhile, Arkansas senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton, both Republicans, called for a moratorium on accepting refugees from Syrian, and all four Arkansas members of the House signed a letter to the president, urging him to halt the admission of refugees from Syria and Iraq into the United States.
Most of the same guys are also calling on the administration to step up military actions in Syria and Iraq, which would most certainly create more refugees. Just don’t send them here. They’re closing the Land of Liberty.
Roy Ockert is editor emeritus of The Jonesboro Sun. He may be reached by e-mail at royo@suddenlink.net.