Posted By John Hudson, Noah Shachtman 
Thursday, August 8, 2013 - 4:20 PM
With conditions continuing to deteriorate in Syria, the Obama administration is making a major policy shift by agreeing for the first time to allow thousands of new Syrian refugees into the United States, The Cable has learned.
The numbers are relatively small: just 2,000 refugees, compared to an estimated two million people who have fled Syria during the civil war. But it's a significant increase from the 90 or so Syrian refugees who have been permanently admitted to the U.S. in the last two years. And it's not entirely uncontroversial. The refugees, mostly women and children, will be screened for terrorist ties -- a process that could take a year or more to complete.
Unlike previous efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to give temporary protected status to Syrians already in the United States, the State Department effort will bring in Syrians from overseas for permanent resettlement in America.
"Referrals will come within the next four months. We will need to interview people and perform security and medical checks," Kelly Clements, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration, tells The Cable.
While aid workers welcome the decision to let in more refugees, concerns remain about the time it will take to process the applications and move them into the U.S. "It's 90 degrees now, but in a few months it's going to snow and people are going to be freezing," Noah Gottschalk, Oxfam America's senior humanitarian policy advisor, told The Cable. "They don't have many options and many are living in unfinished buildings, abandoned shopping malls, schools, mosques and parking garages."
But the eligible refugees will have to wait out the cold. By Clements' own admission, given application processing times, "We're not likely to see Syrian refugees into those numbers before well into 2014." ... CONTINUE
Bee Sting's note:
Does anyone think letting in thousands of "refugees" from another Islamic war torn country is a bad idea?! Shouldn't the United States be concerned about Islamic terrorists, since we've just had 27 Embassies shut down throughout the Middle East and a "Traveler's Alert" posted by the State Department to all American citizens?!
Here's an idea: shut down our borders to all Islamic "refugees"; stop taking commands from the Islamic-run United Nations; and protect America from another Jihad attack! Keep our borders closed for at least two years; long enough for Americans to review, revamp and straighten out their Immigration policies. Or, until however long it takes for the Islamic countries to regain a sense of stabilization within their own countries and among their own citizens. Heck, if they manage to do that, there would be no need for "refugees" entering our borders through yet another BACK DOOR!
And, lastly, just who's brilliant idea is it to give "refugees" the ability to become "permanent" American citizens?
Al-Qaeda is in Syria ...
How many "refugees" does Obama want to bring in?!?
