As Europe handles waves of Syrian refugees, U.S. is slow to help

[IceWizard]

Mon Sep 7, 2015 | 5:46 PM EDT
By Doina Chiacu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
As Europe grapples with a flood of refugees from the Syrian war and the pope urges Catholics to help them, the U.S. government may lack the political appetite to offer American soil as a safe haven to more than the current trickle of Syrians.

Refugee and immigrant groups had urged the
United States to admit more Syrian refugees
long before the crisis erupted this summer in
Europe.

Some hoped global outrage over images of a
drowned Syrian toddler in Turkey last week,
and Pope Francis' call on Sunday for European parishes to take in refugees - coming just two weeks before a trip to the United States - might help prod the United States into action.

"The U.S. could and should be doing more. The silence of the White House on this is
unacceptable," said Michelle Brané of the
Women's Refugee Commission.

A White House spokesman said on Monday the Obama administration "is actively considering a range of approaches to be more responsive to the global refugee crisis, including with regard to refugee resettlement." Spokesman Peter Boogaard said in an emailed statement that the United States had provided over $4 billion in humanitarian assistance since the Syrian crisis began and more than $1 billion in assistance this year."

He added: "The U.S. is the single largest donor to the Syrian crisis."

But moral arguments about the refugees' plight
may be overshadowed by the political realities
in Washington. Some congressional Republicans have said allowing in Syrian refugees would constitute a pipeline for terrorists.

"The rhetoric has been really awful," said
James Zogby, president of the Arab American
Institute. "The difficulty of doing it is met by this
Islamophobia and conflation of Syrians and
Iraqis with terrorists. "Hopefully, the pope will be able to challenge that mindset and soften some hardened hearts, but that remains to be seen."

The administration itself is concerned that
militants from Islamic State or al Qaeda might
slip into the country as refugees.

The State Department has cited Washington's vetting process as a crucial but complicating factor for Syrians seeking entry.

Since the start of the Syrian war in 2011,
Washington has accepted 1,500 Syrian
refugees, most of them this year, and the State
Department expects 300 more by October.

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The number is tiny against the backdrop of the
European refugee crisis in which Germany is
preparing for 800,000 asylum seekers this year, around 1 percent of its population, and
compared with the overall number of 4 million
Syrian refugees.

British Prime Minister David Cameron
pledged on Monday to take in up to 20,000
refugees from camps in Syria over the next five years, responding to public pressure to help.

While President Barack Obama, a Democrat,
does not need congressional approval to allow
in more refugees, Zogby said the president
could be wary of risking a backlash at a time
when he is keen to secure lawmakers' support
for a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, including the United States.

TERRORISM FEARS PROMPT CAUTION

Previous efforts to increase the flow of Syrian
refugees have met strong headwinds. In May, 14 U.S. Senate Democrats wrote a letter urging the Obama administration to allow at least 65,000 Syrian refugees to settle in the United States.

The following month, Republican Representative Michael McCaul objected to the administration's plans to allow nearly 2,000 this year.

"While we have a proud history of welcoming
refugees, the Syrian conflict is a unique case
requiring heightened vigilance and scrutiny,"
McCaul, whose Homeland Security Committee
has held hearings on the issue, wrote in a letter to Obama. "It represents the single largest convergence of Islamist terrorists in history," including Islamic State, al Qaeda and Hezbollah, he continued, adding that U.S. security officials did not have the information they need for effective vetting.

Republican Representative Peter King of New
York echoed that on Monday, saying there was a clear consensus at the hearings that
terrorism was a concern.

"We have to have a very, very thorough vetting process," King said on CNN.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is
responsible for selecting refugees deemed
eligible for resettlement and spokeswoman
Melissa Fleming said it has submitted more than 16,300 Syrian refugees for resettlement in the United States. U.S. consular and security officials, including from the Department of Homeland Security, then vet the applicants overseas before allowing them to board a U.S.-bound plane.

Kevin Appleby, director of migration policy at
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in an interview that the security worries over
Syrians were misplaced, given the intense
background checks on refugees.

But more resources would have to be allocated
for faster vetting. For example, Appleby said,
the United States does not process Syrian
refugees from Europe but from Jordan and
elsewhere in the Middle East, where most of
the refugees are.

DHS and other government officials were not
available to discuss the issue on Monday's
Labor Day federal holiday.

Pope Francis is likely to call on the United
States to live up to its values as a nation that
provides safe haven during his U.S. visit this
month, Appleby said.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops has long
advocated for more Syrians to be allowed in
and believes the country could absorb 100,000.
"It is do-able. It's certainly do-able from our end
in terms of resettling them in the United States," Appleby said, pointing to the U.S. absorption of Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam War. "It's just a matter of political will."


(Additional reporting by Julia Edwards, Arshad
Mohammed, Bill Trott, Victoria Cavaliere and
Jeff Mason; Editing by Frances Kerry and Dan
Grebler)