After attacks, debates about resettling refugees

WASHINGTON - A debate pitting calls for tighter security against pleas for compassion roiled Washington and other communities Tuesday, as Republicans readied to try to block Syrian refugees from entering the United States and the Obama administration tried to tamp down fears stoked by the Paris terror attacks.

Congressional Republicans planned a vote, as soon as this week, to halt President Obama's proposal to admit up to 10,000 Syrians, while most Democrats said the U.S. should continue helping refugees seeking to flee ISIS's murderous regime and a savage civil war. At the same time, aid groups worried that Syrians are being treated like the very terrorists they are fleeing.

"We did not accept Jewish refugees, and we all know the results of that," said Judith Bernstein-Baker, director of HIAS Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia resettlement agency descended from the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. "We have to learn from history and not confuse the victims with the terrorists."

The clash of cultures and concerns has played out amid the horror and fear that have followed Friday's coordinated, deadly attacks in Paris, and against the backdrop of a Republican presidential contest that has coursed with skepticism - and often hostility - toward immigrants.

One candidate, Gov. Christie, joined in lockstep with more than 20 governors when he told Obama in a letter Tuesday that he won't accept Syrian refugees - "any one of whom could be connected to terrorism" - in his state. One of his state's most powerful Democrats, Sen. Cory A. Booker, in turn called rejecting people fleeing crisis "an insult" to our history. "It belies who we are as a nation," Booker said.

Administration officials, worried over criticism of resettlement programs that have long enjoyed bipartisan support, planned private meetings on Capitol Hill to assuage lawmakers, and briefed 34 governors by phone Tuesday, stressing that Syrian refugees undergo more screening than any other type of traveler to the United States.

Just under 2,200 Syrian refugees have arrived here since their country's civil war began in 2011. Most came within the last year.

Pennsylvania has received 161, among the top 10 states nationwide, with most first resettling in Allentown and Erie. Fewer than a dozen came to Philadelphia, according to State Department figures.

New Jersey has received 92.

In the face of ISIS's Paris attack, its downing of a Russian plane, and threats against America, Republicans in Congress and in statehouses said resettlement must stop until the screening process is strengthened.

"We've got an explicit, unambiguous threat" from the terror group, said Rep. Patrick Meehan (R., Pa.). "We've got to take them at their word."

He and other Republicans say they cannot be sure the current vetting can effectively check people coming from a chaotic, war-torn country where ISIS has made a home.

By contrast, Meehan said, U.S. personnel researching Iraqis who wished to resettle often visited their villages to conduct interviews and collect fingerprints. Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) pointed to recent testimony from Obama administration officials, including FBI Director James Comey, who have warned of "gaps" in the information coming from places ripped by conflict.

Several organizations charged with resettling refugees in Pennsylvania said the rejectionist rhetoric has fueled a climate of fear aimed at the wrong targets.

Margaret O'Sullivan, executive director of Nationalities Services Center, Philadelphia's largest resettlement agency, said the Syrian refugees "are fleeing exactly the kind of terror which unfolded on the streets of Paris."

The group has five Syrian families "in the pipeline" for resettlement in Pennsylvania in the coming month.

"These are not people just handpicked yesterday," said O'Sullivan. "They have been through extensive verification and are no different from any group that needs our care and compassion."

The screening process begins with the United Nations, which decides who qualifies as a refugee. But everyone recommended for resettlement in the U.S. is vetted by American agencies that include the FBI, the State and Defense Departments, and the National Counterterrorism Center, Obama administration officials told reporters Tuesday. Refugees' names, birth dates, and fingerprints are verified. Criminal histories are reviewed, and they are interviewed overseas. On average, the process takes 18 to 24 months.

Syrian refugees go through a higher level of screening, the officials said, speaking on the condition they not be named. About half of the Syrians approved so far for U.S. resettlement have been children; a quarter are adults over 60, the officials said. Two percent are males "of combat age."

Roughly half of those checked have been approved, though that number may rise because of others still under review.

The government works with nine nonprofit groups, six of them faith-based, to help settle approved refugees. The groups help the newcomers obtain housing, school supplies, and jobs, officials said - a sign, they argued, that many Americans still welcome refugees.

The officials sought to cast doubt on any governor's legal ability to stem the flow of refugees - they are protected under federal law - though one said, "We do not want to send refugees anywhere where they would not be welcomed."

Toomey's Democratic counterpart from Pennsylvania, Sen. Robert P. Casey, said the U.S. screening system is "the most rigorous in the world."

"We should listen to professionals, not politicians on this, to be blunt," Casey said, "and certainly not Republican presidential candidates, either."

Bernstein-Baker, the HIAS Pennsylvania director, said some governors have the ability to make a difference in the process.

"Some of the states do supplement the money they receive from the federal government," said Bernstein-Baker. If governors close those spigots, she said, "it could mean some services given to refugees are more limited."

She was busy Tuesday gathering dozens of signatures from the leaders of other agencies for a thank-you note to Gov. Wolf, who said Pennsylvania would continue to accept Syrians.

Rim Albezem of Newtown, Bucks County, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Syrian-American Medical Society, has gone to the Middle East to provide care for Syrian refugees.

"The refugees who resettle here are the most thoroughly vetted people" in America, she said. "The United States can continue to welcome refugees while also continuing to ensure national security. We must do both."

jtamari@phillynews.com @JonathanTamari www.philly.com/capitolinq