Obama employs reverse-vetting on his syrian "refugees"

[ShootSpeeders]

If you're intelligent and skilled you CAN'T come here since you will get a job and likely vote repub. Obozo only wants scum that will go on welfare and vote for his party.

 

[waltky]

Vetting gettin' tougher under Trump...

Trump Orders Strict New Refugee Screening, Citing Terrorists
Jan 27, 2017 | WASHINGTON — Setting a hard-line tone on national security, President Donald Trump on Friday ordered strict new screening for refugees to keep "radical Islamic terrorists" out of the United States and alternated tough talk with kind words in his diplomatic standoff with Mexico.

Trump traveled to the Pentagon where he joined Defense Secretary James Mattis for the signing of an executive action to bring sweeping changes to the nation's refugee policies and put in motion his plans to build up the nation's military. "We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas," he said. "We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country and love deeply our people."

During his election campaign against Hillary Clinton, Trump pledged to put in place "extreme vetting" procedures to screen people coming to the U.S. from countries with terrorism ties. The White House did not immediately release details on the order Trump signed, but a draft of the order called for suspending the issuing of visas to people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for at least 30 days. Joined earlier in the day at the White House by British Prime Minister Theresa May, Trump reaffirmed the United States' "special relationship" with Great Britain.

President-elect Donald Trump takes a question from a member of the media at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla.​

But he was also asked about more contentious issues, including his recent statements that torture "does work" in prying information out of terror suspects. Giving ground, he said his defense secretary's opposition would override his own belief. Hours later he stood at the Pentagon as Mattis, the retired general, was sworn in as the military's chief. Trump was also pressed on whether he would revert back to Bush-era use of torture, in the news since The Associated Press and other news organizations obtained copies of a draft executive order signaling sweeping changes to U.S. interrogation and detention policy.

Trump said he would defer to the views of Mattis, who has questioned the effectiveness of such practices as waterboarding, which simulates drowning. "He has stated publicly that he does not necessarily believe in torture or waterboarding, or however you want to define it. ... I don't necessarily agree. But I would tell you that he will override because I'm giving him that power. He's an expert," Trump said. The draft order, which the White House said was not official, also would reverse Obama's effort to close the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — a place Trump has said he wants to fill up "with bad dudes."

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Jan 28, 2017 | Trump Refugee Rule May Block Military Interpreters from US
Interpreters who work for U.S. forces are able to apply for resettlement in the U.S. under a Special Immigrant Visa program.

A new executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Friday that temporarily halts the entrance of most refugees into the U.S. while indefinitely ending the entrance of refugees from Syria may impact a program that brings to the U.S. Iraqis and Afghans who have served with American forces as interpreters. The executive order, signed Friday evening, puts at least a 120-day hold on new refugees from all countries while officials conduct a review of the refugee screening process. A separate rule also puts a 90-day hold on the entrance of all immigrants from a series of countries considered particularly high-risk, including Iraq. When the refugee program restarts, the order states, the U.S. will accept only 50,000 refugees annually, down from the current 110,000. Currently, only one percent of the world's 19.5 million refugees are ever resettled, according to Catholic Social Services, a nonprofit that assists the U.S. government with refugees.

Interpreters who work for U.S. forces are able to apply for resettlement in the U.S. under a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program because they are often targeted for assassination due to their association with the U.S. The SIV program in Afghanistan is still accepting new applicants, according to the State Department, while a near identical program existed in Iraq until it was sunset for new applicants last April. About 500 Iraqi applicants and their families and about 13,000 Afghan applicants and their families are still in the SIV pipeline awaiting final approval, officials with State Department said. The application for resettlement through SIV can take up to three years, according to SIV advocates, in part because SIV refugees receive vetting from every U.S. intelligence agency, they said. To date, more than 34,000 Afghans and 20,000 Iraqis have received immigration benefits from SIV programs, State Department officials said. The department issued 12,086 SIVs to Afghan interpreters and their families in fiscal 2016, and 2,250 to Iraqis.

Alex Unguist, left, interpreter, and U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Richard Holder, right, talk with the village elder Oct. 25, 2012, outside Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.​

State Department officials declined to speculate about the impact any potential U.S. government policy change may have on Iraqi or Afghan refugees. But an official with No One Left Behind, a veteran-run nonprofit that helps former interpreters resettle in the U.S., said it is not clear whether Afghan and Iraqi applicants will be affected by the rule. Officials with No One Left Behind said they are advocating for SIV applicants to be exempted from the new rule, said Jason Gorey, a veteran and the organization's chief operating officer. A clause in the new rule allows for exclusions on a case-by-case basis "when in the national interest," when admitting the person is part of a prior international agreement, or if the person is "already in transit and denying admission would cause undue hardship." "When [he was] president-elect, Trump said that 'extreme vetting' is the approach that he's likely to take for these individuals," Gorey said. "Our message is that the SIV program already includes extreme vetting. They are the most thoroughly vetted individuals to come to our country -- period."

The SIV program has bipartisan support, Gorey said, adding that the fact it's at risk as part of the executive order is likely an oversight. "I don't think that it's malice or even intentional in any way on the Trump administration," he said. "This is sort of an in-the-weeds detail that this sort of small population of interpreters that clearly everyone supports coming to America is going to get caught up in this larger executive order." Gorey said there are applicants who have U.S. visas in hand but are not yet in country who may be delayed. He said because the applicants are under threat, lives could be lost as the result of any delay. "The reason the SIV process exists is that these people are being actively hunted," he said. "And I have no doubt that, especially if it goes beyond 120 days, it will cost lives."

Trump Refugee Rule May Block Military Interpreters from US | Military.com