U.S. to again let refugees in, but vetting to ramp up
The Trump administration will resume accepting refugees into the United States, but it will apply more stringent vetting procedures targeting applicants from “high-risk nations,” administration officials said Tuesday.
In June, the White House put a 120-day freeze on the refugee program, as President Donald Trump ordered Department of Homeland Security officials to develop “extreme vetting” procedures to make sure “radical Islamic terrorists” did not take advantage of the program to enter the U.S.
Under the revamped rules, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, candidates from any nation can apply for refugee status, but a subset of 11 countries will face enhanced scrutiny.
Those applicants will be required to submit more biographical data, an administration official said, allowing for a more in-depth review of applicants’ personal relationships and any potential “criminal activity.”
The official did not say what other screening procedures would qualify as “extreme” in their rigor, but the measures were also expected to include a tighter probe of applicants’ social media and Internet profiles.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity to be able to discuss the new policies, the official said he could not name the 11 nations on the high-risk list. “It’s classified, and I expect it will stay classified,” he said.
The Trump administration has previously targeted Chad, Iran, Libya, North Ko-
rea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen in attempts to ban entry by travelers from those nations, measures that federal courts have mostly blocked.
“The security of the American people is this administration’s highest priority, and these improved vetting measures are essential for American security,” said acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke. “These new, standardized screening measures provide an opportunity for the United States to welcome those in need into our country, while ensuring a safer, more secure homeland.”
Administration officials said the State Department took the lead in developing the new vetting procedures, along with the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The new rules do not adjust the number of refugees the United States will accept in the next 12 months, which Trump has limited to 45,000, the lowest level since the Refugee Act was created in 1980.
The limit calls for the United States to accept 19,000 people from Africa; 5,000 from East Asia; 2,000 from Europe and Central Asia; 1,500 from Latin America and the Caribbean; and 17,500 from the Near East and South Asia.
U.S. standards for refugee acceptance are considered some of the toughest in the world, and experts say the process typically takes a year or two.
Since Congress created the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program, about 3 million refugees have resettled in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center.
Jennifer Sime, senior vice president of U.S. programs for the International Rescue Committee aid group, said in advance of the announcement that she was concerned the new screening procedures would add months or even years to the most urgent refugee cases. She said most of those cases involve women and children in “heinous circumstances who need the permanent and proven solution of resettlement.”
“With a world facing brutal and protracted conflicts like in Syria, or new levels of displacement and unimaginable violence against the Rohingya — this moment is a test of the world’s humanity, moral leadership and ability to learn from the horrors of the past,” she said, referring to the more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled from Burma to Bangladesh to escape retaliation from security forces.
Trump has made limiting immigration a centerpiece of his policy agenda.
Besides the travel ban, which initially targeted a handful of Muslim-majority nations, the president rescinded an Obama-era executive action protecting immigrants brought to the country as minors from deportation. He also has vowed to build a wall along the border with Mexico.
During the presidential campaign, Trump pledged to “stop the massive inflow of refugees” and warned that terrorists were smuggling themselves into naive countries by posing as refugees fleeing war-torn Syria.
“Thousands of refugees are being admitted with no way to screen them and are instantly made eligible for welfare and free health care, even as our own veterans, our great, great veterans, die while they’re waiting online for medical care that they desperately need,” Trump said last October.
Trump has advocated for keeping refugees closer to their homes.
In response to that sentiment, the city council in St. Cloud, Minn., passed a resolution Monday night on a 5-1 vote proclaiming it’s a “welcoming community,” after one council member proposed a moratorium on refugee resettlement.
Last week, Jeff Johnson said he wanted to limit refugee resettlement until the city has more information about the number of people moving there and the possible cost to taxpayers for providing services.
Johnson planned to bring up his proposal at a council meeting next month.
Johnson’s was the sole vote against the resolution.
On Tuesday, the Supreme
Court dismissed the last remaining appeal in a pair of cases challenging Trump’s first executive order, issued in March, that sought to limit travel to the U.S.
The March order was replaced in September with broader restrictions, and they have already been blocked by federal district courts in Hawaii and Maryland.
Tuesday’s dismissal mostly amounted to judicial housekeeping, clearing out challenges to the March order as the justices await eventual appeals from the one issued in September.
In its brief, unsigned disposition, the court said the March order had expired, making the case moot.
But the Supreme Court did a little more than simply remove the case from its docket. It also vacated the decision under appeal, from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, meaning it cannot be used as a precedent.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying she would have simply dismissed the case and allowed the appeals court decision to remain on the books.
The 9th Circuit ruled in June that Trump had exceeded his statutory authority in limiting travel from six mostly Muslim countries and suspending the refugee program.
Information for this article was contributed by Nick Miroff of The
Washington Post; by Darlene Superville, Josh Lederman, Nancy Benac and staff members of The Associated Press; and by Adam Liptak of The New York Times.