President Donald Trump's administration said Monday that it is resuming the admission of refugees from 11 countries with additional screening that it said will increase security, but which refugee groups say will make it harder for Muslims to find haven in the United States.
In late October, after a pause in admissions, the administration began accepting refugees except for those from the 11 countries, citing the need for a 90-day security review. Officials did not name the countries, but they were widely reported to be Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Those countries have accounted for more than 40 percent of all refugee admissions in recent years.
Refugees from those countries will now be admitted again, but only after additional screening. "These additional security measures will make it harder for bad actors to exploit our refugee program, and they will ensure we take a more risk-based approach to protecting the homeland," the secretary of homeland security, Kirstjen Nielsen, said in a statement.
Officials from refugee resettlement agencies said that while they welcomed the resumption of admissions, the announcement reinforced their view that the administration was determined to quash arrivals from Muslim countries by making it harder for them to qualify for approval.
"This administration disproportionally targets Muslims," said Hans Van de Weerd, a senior official at the International Rescue Committee. "Today's announcement does not change this for the better."
Trump set a ceiling of 45,000 refugee admissions for the fiscal year, compared with the 85,000 set by President Barack Obama the year before. The government is on pace to let in far fewer than 45,000 refugees. About 6,000 have been admitted since the fiscal year began Oct. 1.
The number of admissions could rise now that the government has reopened the door for people from the 11 countries, although officials noted that 45,000 refugees was a ceiling, not a target, and that there would be a "lag time" as agencies put the new security measures in place.
Officials said the new measures would involve more "in-depth" interviews and "deep-dive" background checks, but they declined to be more specific. "We won't give our playbook to our enemies," one administration official said on a conference call with reporters.
With existing security checks, it can take two years for a refugee to be approved for admission to the United States. The vetting includes several interviews of family members, often together and apart; background checks; fingerprinting; and iris scans.
A Section on 01/30/2018