US House to vote to restrict refugees

• 19 November 2015
• From the section US & Canada

Republicans in the US House of Representatives are preparing to vote on legislation that would place new restrictions on the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the US.

Democrats say that the bill constitutes grandstanding, while Republicans say the public is demanding greater protection from terrorism.

President Barack Obama has said he will veto the legislation.

The bill follows the attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead.

Seven of the perpetrators died in the attacks, and one of them is thought to have been a Syrian who entered Europe via Greece with migrants.

The bill would require the head of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence to sign off on each refugee as being “not a threat to the security of the United States,” following an FBI background check.

The bill reportedly does not contain provisions that would screen refugees based on religion – a contrast to proposals offered by presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz, who have said that preference should be given to Christians.

A vote on the bill is expected at 10:25 local time (15:25 GMT).

“We are a compassionate nation,” said newly-elected House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican. “But we also must remember that our priority is to protect the American people.”

The White House has said the bill would not bolster security, but “would unacceptably hamper our efforts to assist some of the most vulnerable people in the world”.

Republicans do not have the votes to override Mr Obama’s veto, but say that their affirmative vote in symbolic. Some are considering including its provisions in a massive spending bill in December, which would shut down the government if vetoed.

• takes two years
• in-person interviews and supporting documents
• their experience of conflict cross-checked against intelligence
• about 50% of applicants approved

Step-by-step: how a Syrian refugee gets to the US

Rand Paul, a senator from Kentucky who is currently running for president, has highlighted a 2011 case in his home state of two Iraqi refugees who schemed to send rifles, missiles and money to al-Qaeda against US troops in Iraqi. They are now imprisoned.

Democrats say the proposed security procedures would in effect be a block on Syrian and Iraqi refugees entering the US, because officials would not be able to make absolute guarantees that they would not be threats. They also point to the fact that they would take two years to implement.

The White House has said that 2,174 Syrians have been admitted to the US since the attacks in September 2001, and noted that none of them has been arrested or deported for terror offences.

Millions of Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries and to Europe since the Syrian conflict began about four years ago.

The Obama administration announced in September that it wanted to resettle about 10,000 Syrian refugees in the US by the same time next year.