What could possibly go wrong?
Last February, the Islamic State boasted it would soon flood Europe with as many as 500,000 refugees. And the Lebanese Education Minister recently said that there were 20,000 jihadis among the refugees in camps in his country. Meanwhile, 80% of migrants who have recently come to Europe claiming to be fleeing the war in Syria aren’t really from Syria at all.
So why are they claiming to be Syrian and streaming into Europe, and now the U.S. as well? An Islamic State operative gave the answer when he boasted in September, shortly after the migrant influx began, that among the flood of refugees, 4,000 Islamic State jihadis had already entered Europe. He explained their purpose: “It’s our dream that there should be a caliphate not only in Syria but in all the world, and we will have it soon, inshallah.” These Muslims were going to Europe in the service of that caliphate: “They are going like refugees,” he said, but they were going with the plan of sowing blood and mayhem on European streets. As he told this to journalists, he smiled and said, “Just wait.” We are waiting in the U.S. as well.
“State seeks to pick up pace on bringing Syrian refugees to US,” by Kristina Wong, The Hill, April 16, 2016:
The State Department is hoping to bring an average of nearly 1,500 Syrian refugees to the United States per month in order to meet President Obama’s target of settling 10,000 refugees in the country by September.
About 1,300 refugees have already been placed in the United States since Obama first made the commitment in September.
That’s far fewer than those taken in by European countries such as Germany, who has dealt with an unprecedented wave of migrants fleeing Syria’s civil war, as well as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Yet the settlement has provoked a significant backlash, mostly from Republicans, who argue it puts the U.S. at risk from terrorism.
“It’s clear that ISIS wants to, has planned on attempting to infiltrate refugee populations. This is a problem. If one person gets through who is planning a terrorist attack in our country, that’s a problem,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, who recently returned from a trip to the region, said Thursday.
“The administration — whether it’s Homeland Security or the FBI, cannot tell us that they can adequately screen people. There isn’t really a Syrian to talk to on that end of the equation to vet people, so it is a problem,” Ryan told reporters….
State Department officials have also said they are hoping to bring in even more than 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year, since there is currently a ceiling of 85,000 refugees to the U.S., and it does not limit them by nationality.
However, the plan to bring in 8,700 more refugees in the next several months will face stiff opposition, especially if it gains attention in the presidential race….
“What the people of the United States should understand is that our intention is to help the most vulnerable people and to do it in a way that respects the security of our nation,” Bartlett said. “This operation is consistent with that goal.”
How?