American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the generosity from my colleague from Michigan on the time.

Mr. Speaker, we live in uncertain and dangerous times with ever-evolving terrorist threats. The brutality that ISIL has inflicted on innocent people is both chilling and demands action.

As Members of Congress, we have a responsibility to do all we can to protect our citizens. In the wake of the Paris attacks, questions have been raised about the screening system that the U.S. utilizes and whether it can be exploited by terrorists.

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, in recent days, however, we have seen a number of Governors, including the Governor of my home State, choose fear over facts. If they had done their research, they would have learned that our program is an extensive 13-step process.

It starts with a referral from the United Nations of a prescreened person within its refugee camps, requires the Department of Homeland Security to do in-person interviews, and subjects each applicant to recurring vetting against the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, FBI, Department of Defense, and intelligence community terrorist and criminal databases. No excuses, Mr. Speaker. If any one of those reviews pops up with a problem, that person can't be considered for the refugee program--no excuses.

Unlike in Europe, where migrants crossed into countries that had little opportunity to vet them, no alien is allowed onto U.S. soil until all the checks are completed to DHS' satisfaction. As has already been said by my colleague, Zoe Lofgren, it takes about 18 to 24 months to process an applicant for refugee status.

Now, that processing is thorough, Mr. Speaker, and it is complete. But there has been a reference to a stolen passport in the Paris situation. That person, if they had applied for the refugee program, would have had to go through the same process of vetting that would have required at least 18 to 24 months. So the thought that that person could just get on a plane and get here to this country is actually not accurate, and that is my effort to perfect the record.

Our system of vetting is a multi-layered, multi-agency approach where the FBI has veto authority on any applicant seeking refugee status. While no system is risk free, the protections in place in the American system are rigorous, robust, and extensive.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, yesterday a witness that the majority invited to appear before our committee, Matthew Olsen, the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told our committee that no refugee program in the world is as extensive as what we do in the United States.

Yet, here we are today considering H.R. 4038, a bill that would upend the current system, which was developed by security personnel with one thought in mind: to protect the homeland. And these security personnel have done a wonderful job.

To the knowledge of all of us, none of the refugees that we are talking about from Syria or Iraq who came through this system have done anything but been model citizens since they have been here. Just for the record, there were 23,000 people that applied for refugee status from these two countries. Of those 23,000, about 7,000 were actually interviewed. Of those 7,000, only 2,000 were admitted.

So, Mr. Speaker, our system is robust. It works and it speaks to our values as Americans. I am proud to say that people who are abused, people who are oppressed, can still look to this country, follow the rules. If those rules are properly applied, they can look to America as somewhere they can call home, because most of those individuals applying for refugee status can't go home.

Once again, I call on Members to embrace facts over fear, Mr. Speaker, and vote against H.R. 4038.

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, my motion to recommit will do several things:

The first thing it will do is require the Secretary of Homeland Security to verify the identity of refugee applicants. Any application that contains insufficient, conflicting, or unreliable information would be denied.

The second point of my motion to recommit is that this motion will require at least five Federal agencies--the Department of Homeland Security, the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence--all together to check refugee applicants against their records. Any application that indicates a national security or criminal threat would be denied.

In addition, Mr. Speaker, my motion would also require that the Secretary of Homeland Security would certify that all relevant Federal immigration laws have been complied with and that the applicant has not been resettled in a safe third-party country, and has the Department of Homeland Security inspector general's review as a sample of the certifications.

Fourthly, Mr. Speaker, my motion to recommit would require the Department of Homeland Security inspector general to submit monthly reports to Congress on refugee applications from Syria and Iraq. The Secure Refugee Process Act of 2015 is a pro-security, pro-compassion bill that would ensure the U.S. continues to maintain the most extensive interagency security screening process in the world to vet all people who seek safe harbor in our great Nation.

Mr. Speaker, the people we are talking about in this particular motion really don't have a country. Many of them have been tortured. The women have been raped. The children, for lack of a better term, are destitute.

We are a Nation of values. My bill speaks to those values.

It does not pause the process. It does not create a moratorium on the process. It adds an additional layer of security without stopping the refugee program.

It is not an immigration bill. It is a refugee program. As I said earlier, we had 23,000 individuals apply for status under this particular program who were Iraqi or Syrian citizens. Of that number, 7,000 received interviews. Of that number, around 2,000 were approved. So it takes time. My motion to recommit is a prudent approach to recognizing the values of this country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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