GOP chairmen question administration about ISIS border threat
Two top Republican lawmakers want more information from the Obama administration about the possibility of Islamic militants entering the U.S. through the nation’s southwest border.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the respective chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary committees, wrote a letter Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson asking for more information on the topic.
{mosads}Specifically, the Republicans asked the Department of Homeland Security to provide a list of those from “specially designated countries,” such as Syria, Iraq and Yemen, who were apprehended while attempting to cross the border since early 2011.
Lawmakers have been arguing the merits of President Obama’s plan to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, as well as the security protocols in place to screen the refugees following heightened terrorism fears after the deadly Paris terrorist attacks on Nov. 13.
Critics of the Syrian resettlement plan have pointed to the possibility that Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters may try to slip in among refugees.
The fight over blocking refugees has emerged as a major hurdle for lawmakers as they return from Thanksgiving break and look to finish a yearlong spending bill.
“Given ISIS’s avowed aim of attacking Americans on our own soil and its unconcealed plan to masquerade its terror operatives as Syrians fleeing their country, it is clear that any border apprehensions of putative Syrians presenting fraudulent identification documents is a matter of grave concern,” the Republicans wrote Tuesday.
The lawmakers pointed to several incidents from earlier this month, including Honduran authorities arresting five Syrian men who intended to travel to the U.S. on fake passports, as well as U.S. officials taking in members of two Syrian families at the border in Laredo, Texas.
“These incidents reflect a concerted effort by Syrians to evade inspection and illegally enter the United States,” the pair wrote.
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