{"id":22011,"date":"2015-12-02T16:25:43","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T22:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=22011"},"modified":"2015-12-02T17:01:26","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T23:01:26","slug":"christian-and-muslim-supporters-halting-syrian-refugees-what-isis-wants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/christian-and-muslim-supporters-halting-syrian-refugees-what-isis-wants\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian and Muslim supporters: halting Syrian refugees what ISIS wants"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yingxu Jane Hao<\/strong><\/p>\n

The House stopped short of imposing a religious test for Syrian refugees, but the vote two weeks ago to intensify the screening of Syrians seeking to enter the United States drew criticism from Christian and Muslim supporters of refugee resettlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cISIS terrorists want Muslims to feel like they are unwelcomed in America,\u201d said Robert McCaw, Government Affairs Department Manager at the Council on American-Islamic Relations. \u201cThey want division, and that\u2019s what we are giving them.\u201d
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At a time when President Obama favors admitting 10,000 Syrians through a vetting process that typically takes 18 to 24 months, McCaw warned that the new bill would make it harder for any Syrian refugees to resettle in the U.S., whether they are Christians or Muslims.<\/p>\n

Under the bill, no refugees from Syria or Iraq could enter the United States until the applicants are verified to pose no threat by the director of the F.B.I., the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and the director of national intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo director of any agency is willing to take that political risk involved in affirming to the country that no incident with a refugee will occur, even though refugees have a low rate of committing crimes,\u201d said McCaw, an American Muslim. \u201cPolitically it just makes it very unfeasible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andreas Feldmann, a former adviser to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the bill is \u201cnot convincing or meaningful.\u201d Nor, he believes, does it improve security.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s much easier for ISIS to send people from anywhere to the United States with a European passport for example,\u201d said Feldmann, associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois Chicago. \u201cWhy would they send someone through a very thorough vetting process that takes years?\u201d<\/p>\n

If the bill becomes law, \u201cIt\u2019s doing nothing other than harming refugees who are the main victims of ISIS. And most of them are women, elderly and children,\u201d said Feldmann.<\/p>\n

Matthew Soerens, spokesman for World Relief, one of nine nonprofit organizations authorized by the federal government to help resettle refugees in the U.S., said, \u201cThe bill is more politically motivated than based on the facts of\u00a0actual process involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Soerens, Syrian refugees\u00a0are vetted for at least 18 months prior to entering to the U.S., a thorough process in which Soerens has \u201ca lot of confidence\u201d that makes the admission much less risky.<\/p>\n