Conservative Leaders: Syrian Immigration is a Grave National Security Threat
November 30, 2015
Washington, DC

The burden to keep our immigration system both safe and generous falls on Congress.

America’s immigration system is the most generous in the world. Accordingly, the law allows for those who have a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” to enter the U.S. as a refugee. This definition is importantly limited in scope and applies to individuals on a case-by- case basis. It may not apply to everyone fleeing one country equally.

The State Department, according to its legal authority granted by Congress, announced that 10,000 of the 85,000 refugee slots for 2016 will be reserved for Syrians. Given the current climate around the globe, a refugee population so large, fleeing a war torn region, with ample evidence that a group of Syrian refugees is much more likely to contain Islamic Extremists bent on violence in America creating a completely unsecure, dangerous, and untenable situation for the American people.

During his testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security last week, FBI Director James Comey clearly indicated that the FBI does not have the ability to conduct thorough background checks on 10,000 Syrian refugees. At the moment, we are convinced there is no possible way to verify the identity and credibility of Syrian refugees, and recognize that to be a grave national security threat. Of the challenge in verifying the identity of a Syrian refugee, he said, ““And so if someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interest reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home, but there will be nothing show up because we have no record of them.”

Until there is assurance that all potential terrorists are screened out, Syrian refugees cannot be allowed to immigrate to the United States. If the administration is determined to grant refugee status to 10,000 (or more) Syrian refuges, it is incumbent upon Congress to intervene. According to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, the Congress has sole discretion over immigration law and federal spending. On December 11th, funding for all government programs will expire. In the interest of national security, Congress must prohibit funding for the State Department to allow any Syrian immigrant to gain refugee status.

There are compassionate approaches that do not entail the security risks associated with allowing vast numbers of un-vetted, displaced people into the United States. For example, humanitarian support could be provided directly to displaced people currently in refugee camps in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and elsewhere. We could also assist the government of Kurdistan in its efforts to care for those displaced by shifting already allotted financial and/or other resources for the current camps, and also ensure more are built if needed.

Congress should then work with the intelligence agencies to develop a vetting process that assures the nation our refugee laws do not make us less safe. We must be able to verify that any individual seeking any immigration status does not pose a threat to this nation. Congress should pause any new Syrian refugees, and allow a deliberative process for lawmakers to ensure any proposed vetting process is secure, transparent, and respects the role of state governments.

 

Hon. Edwin Meese III
Former Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan

Hon. J. Kenneth Blackwell
Former U.S. Ambassador
UN Human Rights Commission

Hon. Colin A. Hanna
President
Let Freedom Ring, Inc.

William L. Walton
Vice President
Council for National Policy

Rod D. Martin
Founder and CEO
The Martin Organization

Sherri R. Martin
The Martin Foundation

Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values

Nicholas Stehle
Campaign for the American Future

Michael A. Needham
Chief Executive Officer
Heritage Action for America

Hon. Tony Perkins
President
Family Research Council

Erick-Woods Erickson
Editor-in-Chief, RedState
Host of The Erick Erickson Show

Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund

David Bozell
President, ForAmerica

Herman Cain
CEO and President
www.hermancain.com

Hon. Sharron Angle
President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Willes K. Lee
Executive Vice President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies

Tim LeFever
Chairman
Capitol Resource Institute

Jason Jones
President
Movie to Movement

Lee A. Beaman
Chief Executive Officer
Beaman Automotive

The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop
Chairman, Conservative Action Project (CAP)
Former White House Advisor, President Ronald Reagan

Ed Corrigan
Former Executive Director
Senate Steering Committee

Herman Pirchner, Jr.
President
American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC)

Hon. Bob McEwen
Executive Director, Council for National Policy
U.S. House of Representatives Former Member, Ohio

L. Brent Bozell, III
Chairman
Media Research Center

Diana L. Banister
Shirley & Banister Public Affairs

Hon. James C. Miller III
Former OMB Director President Ronald Reagan

Bob Adams
President
Revive America PAC

Seton Motley
President
Less Government

Neil Patel
Co-founder and Publisher
The Daily Caller

C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property

Kevin Freeman
Founder, NSIC Institute


Andrea S. Lafferty

President
Traditional Values Coalition

Morton C. Blackwell
Chairman
The Weyrich Lunch

Hon. Jerry Melvin
President
Florida Republican Assembly

Ron Robinson
President
Young America’s Foundation

Robert D. Thompson
Administrator
The Weyrich Lunch

Gary A. Marx
Senior Partner
Madison Strategies

Ron Pearson
Executive Director
Conservative Victory Fund

Dee Hodges
President
Maryland Taxpayers Association

Richard Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government

Michael R. Long
State Chairman
New York State Conservative Party

Kevin Kookogey
President and Founder
The Advancing Church


Bradley Mattes

President
Life Issues Institute

Tricia Erickson
President, Angel Pictures & Publicity
Publisher: www.TheConservativePundit.net

Susan W. Gore
President
Wyoming Liberty Group

Russell J. Ramsland, Jr.
Candidate for U.S. House District 32 – Texas

Hon. Somers H. White
Former Arizona State Senator

Dan Weber
President
Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC)

Mike Spence
President
Conservative Republicans of California

Ambassador Henry F. Cooper
Former SDI Director
Former Chief Defense and Space Negotiator

Jim Simpson
Author: The Red Green Axis: Refugees, Immigration and the Agenda to Erase America

Judson Phillips
Founder, Tea Party Nation
TPN Networks & TeaPartyNation.com

Tim Wildmon
President
American Family Association

Mat Staver, Esq.

Charles J. Cooper
Cooper & Kirk, PLLC

Hon. Mike Hill
Florida State Representative District 2

Peter Hoekstra
Shillman Senior Fellow
Investigative Project on Terrorism
Former Chairman, House Intelligence Committee


Andresen Blom

Executive Director
Grassroot Hawaii Action

Elaine Donnelly
President
Center for Military Readiness

Allen Roth
President
Secure America Now

Col. Francis X. De Luca USMCR(Ret)
President Civitas Institute

Thomas P. Kilgannon
President
Freedom Alliance

Robert K. Fischer
Meeting Coordinator for Conservatives of Faith

Melissa Ortiz
Founder & Principal
Able Americans

Jim Backlin
Christian Coalition of America

Donna Hearne
Chief Executive Officer
The Constitutional Coalition

All organizations listed for identification purposes only.

The Conservative Action Project, founded by former Attorney General Edwin Meese and chaired by The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop, is designed to facilitate conservative leaders working together on behalf of common goals. Participants include the CEO’s of over 100 organizations representing all major elements of the conservative movement: economic, social and national security.