Homeland Security Chairman Warns U.S. Doesn't Have Proper Vetting System For 10,000 Syrian Refugees

Katie Pavlich | September 11, 2015 12:10 PM

Yesterday the White House announced the United States will take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees under instruction from President Obama.

"The United States, at the direction of the United States, has played a leading role in addressing the dire humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and North Africa," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday during the daily briefing. "One thing that the United States can do is to begin to let more Syrian refugees into the United States. This year, this fiscal year that will end this month, the United States is on track to take in about 1500 Syrian refugees. The president has directed his team to scale up that number next year and he's informed his team he would like them to accept, at least make preparations, for 10,000 refugees."

Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Michael McCaul is expressing grave concerns about the move and is warning that the U.S. doesn't have the systems in place through Homeland Security or the FBI to properly vet refugees coming from the terrorism hotspots of Syria and Iraq.

“The President wants to surge thousands of Syrian refugees into the United States, in spite of consistent intelligence community and federal law enforcement warnings that we do not have the intelligence needed to vet individuals from the conflict zone. We also know that ISIS wants to use refugee routes as cover to sneak operatives into the West. I implore the President to consult with Congress before taking any drastic action and to level with the American people about the very real security challenges we face," McCaul released in a statement. "It is heart-wrenching to watch innocent Syrians fleeing the violence in their country, and we can do more to help. But the best way to solve this crisis is at the source. The President needs to develop a real strategy for victory to defeat ISIS and remove Assad from power, which is the root cause of the problem. This is the culmination of a failed foreign policy to deal with the threats and now we have a humanitarian crisis on our hands.”