Here’s What Refugees Want Americans—and Politicians—to Know About Coming to the U.S.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation to create new screening procedures for Syrian refugees seeking safety in the United States, threatening to impose a new layer of bureaucracy on what refugees and advocates say is already a difficult, years-long process.
The vote came despite a veto threat from the Obama administration, which called the proposed changes “untenable,” according to The New York Times, because they would require top brass at the FBI, Homeland Security, and other national security organizations to sign off on every single applicant from Syria and Iraq. Nearly 50 Democrats supported the Republican-led measure, which passed 289–137 on Thursday, and it will be taken up in the Senate after Thanksgiving.
Politicians outside Washington have called for similar restrictions or outright bans on the entry of Syrian refugees into the U.S., making a campaign issue of a crisis that has forced an estimated 3 million Syrians to flee their country. The U.S. has admitted nearly 2,200 Syrian refugees for settlement to date, and the president has announced plans to admit another 10,000 in the coming year.
Former refugees and advocates have taken to social media, using hashtags such as #RefugeesWelcome, to call on politicians to stop capitalizing on fears stoked by the Paris attacks. Survivors of genocide and war who resettled in the U.S.—from Bosnia in the ’90s, from Eastern Europe during World War II, from South Asia during the Vietnam War—are speaking out for better understanding of the real plight of refugees.
A series of detailed tweets from one Bosnian refugee who resettled in Iowa went viral this week. Identified only as Arnessa, she explained the long process of interviews, evaluations, and insecurity families endure to reach the U.S.
As it is, the U.S. government gathers vast detail, including a list of all the people a refugee left behind, dead or alive. Checking the information takes a long time.
Source: www.takepart.com