The Obama administration
allowed 1,519 terror-stained foreign refugees into the U.S. last year because
their crimes were allegedly committed “while under duress.”
The administration last
year eased federal restrictions against terrorist activity for refugees and
asylum seekers. Under the old rules, these 1,519 foreign nationals would have
been banned from entering the country because they supported terrorist causes.
But under the new rules
for vetting refugees, the secretary of Homeland Security has “discretionary
authority” to waive certain cases of inadmissibility relating to terrorist
activity.
A person could have
provided shelter or sold a weapon to a terrorist, for instance, then claimed he
did not know that the person being helped was a terrorist or that he was forced
to provide the aid under duress.
“We’ve seen this
discretionary authority abused in the last few years and, in fact, the
administration has eliminated a zero-tolerance policy for granting asylum or
residency to individuals who have provided any sort of terrorism-related
support,” said a release
from Judicial Watch Tuesday.
The watchdog agency said
the federal government’s latest available figures for granting asylum or
residency to foreigners participating in terrorist causes are “incredibly
disturbing, especially since the agency charged with keeping the nation safe,
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), appears to downplay the seriousness
of the crimes.”
Judicial Watch obtained
the numbers from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services annual
report to Congress on the DHS secretary’s application of discretionary
authority.
The biggest chunk of
exemptions was processed for refugee applicants and lawful permanent resident
status with 806 and 614, respectively.
The U.S. took in 70,000
foreign refugees in fiscal 2015, which ends Sept. 30, and Obama has decided to
increase that number to 85,000 in 2016 and 100,000 in 2017. In addition to the
refugees, the U.S. takes in about 25,000 asylees every year.
The remainder of the
terror-connected persons were processed under other DHS programs such as
temporary protected status, or TPS, which allows foreign persons here as
students, tourists or other reasons to stay beyond their visa expirations due
to natural disasters or wars in their homelands.
“The bottom line is that
the U.S. government is allowing them all to stay in the country with rights and
benefits afforded to legal residents despite their terrorist connections and
associations,” said Judicial Watch.
More than half of the
candidates rewarded by DHS last year provided material support to terrorist
organizations, according to the DHS report. The others received military-type
training from a terrorist organization, voluntarily provided medical care to
members of a terrorist group and solicited funds or individuals for membership
in a terrorist organization.
After a case-by-case
review, Obama DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson determined that the recently admitted
terrorists only participated in these activities “while under duress.”
This effort was
officially launched last year when the administration quietly changed the
Immigration and Nationality Act, or INS, implemented decades ago to govern
immigration and citizenship in the United States.
The law includes a ban
on admitting refugees and asylum seekers who may have provided terrorists with
any sort of material support, even the kind that may be considered trivial by
some.
“In other words, the
federal law rightfully had a zero tolerance for any kind of involvement with
terrorist elements,” Judicial Watch reported. “But a joint effort by DHS and
the State Department created an ‘Exercise of Authority’ that allows ‘an alien
who provided limited material support’ to a terrorist organization to stay in
the U.S. if the powers that be in our government believe they pose no threat.”
“The administration
seems to have a soft spot for terrorists,” Judicial Watch concluded. “A few
months after the INS change was exposed, a frustrated U.S. senator revealed
that the administration appears to have a terrorist ‘hands off’ list that
permits individuals with extremist ties to enter the country.
“The lawmaker obtained
the information from internal DHS documents that include communication between
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) asking whether to admit an individual with ties to various
terrorist groups. The suspect had scheduled an upcoming flight into the U.S.
and was believed to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a close associate
and supporter Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”
http://www.wnd.com/2015/09/obama-brings-1500-terrorists-to-u-s/
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