WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration’s commitment to taking in thousands of Syrian refugees is raising national security concerns among some law enforcement officials and Republican lawmakers.
Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard says those who come to the U.S. will be subject to intensive screening before entering the country. Most are vulnerable women and children.
But the FBI’s assistant director for counterterrorism, Michael Steinbach, says the information the intelligence community would normally rely on to properly vet refugees doesn’t exist in a failed country like Syria.
More than 3.8 million Syrians have fled their country in the four years since an uprising against President Bashar Assad ignited a civil war.
More than 500 Syrian refugees are in the U.S., and plans are to add a few thousand in coming years.