Attorney General Loretta Lynch defended the process by which refugees are vetted before coming to the United States, calling the process “robust” and saying protocols in place make the U.S. less vulnerable to infiltration by terrorists than European countries.
Ms. Lynch’s comments, which came Tuesday as a growing number of governors expressed opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into their states, were in contrast to statements made by FBI Director James Comey last month highlighting problems with the screening protocol.
“Under the Department of Justice, all of our agencies will make ever effort to vet every refugee coming into this country — from the databases, to the interviews that those individuals are subject to, to the biometric screening,” Ms. Lynch said during her first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee since taking office in April. “Certainly there are challenges to that process because of the situation in Syria.”
President Obama’s plan to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees has come under attack by lawmakers who worry that potential terrorists may try to sneak into the U.S. by posing as asylum seekers. At least one of the suspects believed to have been involved in this weekend’s deadly terror attacks in Paris was allowed to enter Greece among a wave of Syrian refugees in October.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, asked whether the United States’ acceptance of refugees might also put it at risk.
Ms. Lynch said European countries have not been able to set up the same level of screening that U.S. agencies, including the FBI and Department of Defense, have designed.
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“We have the benefit of having the significant robust screening process in place — a process that Europe has not been able to set up, which renders them more vulnerable,” she said.
Last month, Mr. Comey emphasized that the security screening procedures aren’t a catch-all if authorities don’t have any information on the refugees in their databases.
“We can only query against that which we have collected,” Mr. Comey said during a hearing before a House committee. “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.”
Citing fears that violent extremists will sneak into the United States by masquerading as refugees, more than 26 governors had issued statements by Tuesday morning indicating that they will try to block relocation of Syrian refugees in their states. Legally, the state lawmakers will likely be unable to enforce any ban on relocations, but their statements add to the calls for President Obama to reevaluate his plan to accept the Syrian refuges.
Apart from screening of refugees, Ms. Lynch noted that since 2013, more than 70 people have been criminally charged for “conduct related to foreign-fighter activity and homegrown violent extremism.”
But despite Ms. Lynch’s assurances that refugees would be vetted, some remained unconvinced.
“It doesn’t sound robust to me,” said Rep. Steve King, Iowa Republican.
Republican lawmakers also questioned Ms. Lynch on President Obama’s plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which reportedly may recommend moving some of the prisoners held there to U.S. facilities. But the attorney general declined to say directly whether she believed moving detainees to prisons on U.S. soil might make the facilities a target for terrorists.
“If you brought terrorists from Guantanamo Bay and located them in a particular city in the United States, would it not be reasonable to conclude that that would enhance the likelihood that that city could be placed on one of these lists?” asked Rep. Randy Forbes, Virginia Republican.
“There are a number of factors,” Ms. Lynch said.
She did confirm however that the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay to U.S. shores is prohibited under current law.
The Pentagon has yet to formally outline the plan.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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