The Screening Of Syrian Refugees--More Than Eyewash? No Mention Of Illegal Immigrants,

How Syrian refugees get to the United States

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Tribune News Service

TNS/This couple came to the U.S. 10 months ago after their infant son was killed in an airstrike in Damascus, Syria.

WASHINGTON (TNS) — A growing chorus of lawmakers, including Speaker Paul Ryan, has said the United States Syrian refugee program should be paused while Congress evaluates the process for safety concerns following the Paris attacks.

A CQ Roll Call analysis shows that the 1,869 Syrian refugees who have crossed U.S. borders since October 2014 were likely screened by the FBI, passed an in-person Department of Homeland Security interview and underwent other security and background checks.

The Obama administration said it would take in 10,000 additional Syrian refugees in fiscal 2016. The fiscal 2015 total was 1,682.

The resettlement application process

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The majority of potential refugee referrals for the United States are delivered by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, serving as an intermediary between the refugee and the United States.

Those attempting to come into the country can also apply on their own, though only about 25 percent do so, a State Department official said during a background briefing for reporters in September. The rest go through this U.N. agency, which also screens refugees before they even come across the radar of a U.S. official.

Department of Homeland Security

Refugees coming from Syria immediately trigger an additional layer of security, known as the “Syria Enhanced Review.”

A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) official reviews each refugee’s case before scheduling an interview. If certain criteria are found during the review, the agency escalates the case to its Fraud Detection and National Security Division, according to FDNS acting Associate Director Matthew Emrich testimony at an October Senate hearing.

In-person screening

Once a Syrian refugee’s case is reviewed, a field team conducts an interview to determine whether he or she should legally be considered a refugee, the State Department official said in September.

At that time, USCIS takes fingerprints and a photo of the person applying to come to the U.S.; this data passes through an FBI database. DHS also screens the person against a terrorist and criminal watchlist, as well as a database of previous run-ins with immigration officials.

Security checks

A slew of federal agencies get involved with vetting Syrian refugees, including the Department of Defense.

Most of the security details are classified, though Emrich’s testimony said further checks involve the State Department’s Consular Lookout and Support System, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center and interagency checks from the National Counterterrorism Center.

Health screening

While the security checks take place, the refugees undergo health assessments for diseases that could prevent them from entering the United States.

Tuberculosis is the most common disease of concern the U.S. officials find, according to the State Department official on background. Additional screenings include syphilis, gonorrhea and leprosy.

Testing positive for one of these diseases doesn’t automatically disqualify refugees from coming to the United States, but it does delay the process while they undergo treatment.

Arrival

On arriving in the United States, refugees can run into additional questioning from Customs and Border Patrol and the Transportation Security Administration.

Most refugees go through a three-day class giving them basic information about life in the country. Refugees are provided between one and three months’ assistance with housing, food and clothing, according to the State Department.

Refugees lose their refugee status after one year, at which point they must apply for permanent alien status. After five years, refugees are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship.

–Sean McMinn
CQ-Roll Call

Germany's Vaunted Health System Under Attack

Video: Female Physician in Munich, Germany sends a message to the world

By emalvini on Sun, 11/01/2015 - 12:27

Health

Female Physician in Munich, Germany sends a message to the world

Here is a translation of Czech newscast covering this email.

A Female Physician in Munich, Germany sends a message to the world......

Yesterday, at the hospital we had a meeting about how the situation here and at the other Munich hospitals is unsustainable. Clinics cannot handle emergencies, so they are starting to send everything to the hospitals.

Many Muslims are refusing treatment by female staff and, we, women, are refusing to go among those animals, especially from Africa. Relations between the staff and migrants are going from bad to worse. Since last weekend, migrants going to the hospitals must be accompanied by police with K-9 units.

Many migrants have AIDS, syphilis, open TB and many exotic diseases that we, in Europe, do not know how to treat them. If they receive a prescription in the pharmacy, they learn they have to pay cash. This leads to unbelievable outbursts, especially when it is about drugs for the children. They abandon the children with pharmacy staff with the words: “So, cure them here yourselves!” So the police are not just guarding the clinics and hospitals, but also large pharmacies.

Truly we said openly: Where are all those who had welcomed in front of TV cameras, with signs at train stations?! Yes, for now, the border has been closed, but a million of them are already here and we will definitely not be able to get rid of them.

Until now, the number of unemployed in Germany was 2.2 million. Now it will be at least 3.5 million. Most of these people are completely unemployable. A bare minimum of them have any education. What is more, their women usually do not work at all. I estimate that one in ten is pregnant. Hundreds of thousands of them have brought along infants and little kids under six, many emaciated and neglected. If this continues and German re-opens its borders, I’m going home to the Czech Republic. Nobody can keep me here in this situation, not even double the salary than at home. I went to Germany, not to Africa or the Middle East.

Even the professor who heads our department told us how sad it makes him to see the cleaning woman, who for 800 Euros cleans every day for years, and then meets young men in the hallways who just wait with their hand outstretched, want everything for free, and when they don’t get it they throw a fit.

I really don’t need this! But I’m afraid that if I return, that at some point it will be the same in the Czech Republic. If the Germans, with their nature cannot handle this, there in Czechia it would be total chaos. Nobody who has not come in contact with them has no idea what kind of animals they are, especially the ones from Africa, and how Muslims act superior to our staff, regarding their religious accommodation.

For now, the local hospital staff has not come down with the diseases they brought here, but, with so many hundreds of patients every day – this is just a question of time.

In a hospital near the Rhine, migrants attacked the staff with knives after they had handed over an 8-month-old on the brink of death, which they had dragged across half of Europe for three months. The child died in two days, despite having received top care at one of the best pediatric clinics in Germany. The physician had to undergo surgery and two nurses are laid up in the ICU. Nobody has been punished.

The local press is forbidden to write about it, so we know about it through email. What would have happened to a German if he had stabbed a doctor and nurses with a knife? Or if he had flung his own syphilis-infected urine into a nurse’s face and so threatened her with infection? At a minimum he’d go straight to jail and later to court. With these people – so far, nothing has happened.

And so I ask, where are all those greeters and receivers from the train stations? Sitting pretty at home, enjoying their non-profits and looking forward to more trains and their next batch of cash from acting like greeters at the stations. If it were up to me I would round up all these greeters and bring them here first to our hospital’s emergency ward, as attendants. Then, into one building with the migrants so they can look after them there themselves, without armed police, without police dogs who today are in every hospital here in Bavaria, and without medical help.