US Refugee Vetting Process Has ‘Significant Holes’

FAIR advocacy group Media Director Ira Mehlman claims that the process set up to investigate refugees coming to the United States contains big gaps that prevent authorities from completing full background checks.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The process set up to investigate refugees coming to the United States contains big gaps that prevent authorities from completing full background checks, advocacy group Federation For American Immigration Reform (FAIR) Media Director Ira Mehlman told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"The vetting process has significant holes in it, even when the person in question is arriving from countries where we have a strong diplomatic presence, such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia," Mehlman said.

Mehlman’s comments come after advocacy group Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the US federal government to push President Barack Obama to reveal how his administration plans to resettle refugees from Syria. In October, Obama announced the United States would accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016.

Mehlman noted that FAIR has strongly backed efforts to deny funding for resettlement of refugees from countries known to harbour terrorists.

"There is the added element of the risk to homeland security posed by the admission of people from a part of the world where we have no reliable mechanism to vet them thoroughly," he explained.

Mehlman concluded that there are more meaningful ways for the United States to help with the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis rather resettle some of them in the United States.