by Joel Gehrke
Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.)
want President Obama to release the immigration records of the San
Bernardino shooters, arguing they should play a key role in the coming
debate over funding the Syrian refugee resettlement& program.
Their request comes as CBS reports that one of the shooting suspects
passed the Department of Homeland Security’s “counterterrorism screening
as part of her vetting” for a visa.
Federal officials maintain that
they have a rigorous and effective screening process in place for people
from countries such as Syria that have significant jihadist movements,
making the immigration records of the San Bernardino shooters a
potentially significant piece of the debate over refugee policy.
“We are dealing with an enemy that has shown it is not only capable of
bypassing U.S. screening, but of recruiting and radicalizing Muslim
migrants after their entry to the United States,” Cruz and Sessions
wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Secretary of State
John Kerry, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
The letter reiterates the lawmakers’ longstanding request for the
immigration records of twelve other terror suspects, which the Obama
administration has failed to release even as the debate over the Syrian
refugee crisis has heated up.
“Congress is days away from consideration of an omnibus year-end funding
bill that would set the U.S. on an autopilot path to approve green
cards, asylum, and refugee status to approximately 170,000 migrants from
Muslim countries during the next year,” Cruz and Sessions wrote.
“The
security task involved is immense, and Congress must have the requested
information if lawmakers are to act as responsible stewards of American
immigration policy.”
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