Politics

Alaska delegation says U.S. refugee security worth reviewing following Paris terror attacks

WASHINGTON -- Members of Alaska's congressional delegation agree that a "pause" on admitting Syrian refugees to the U.S. is in order after members of the Islamic State killed 130 people Paris this month, but one lawmaker says it's unclear whether focusing on refugees is the best route to preventing a similar attack here.

On Thursday, the House passed legislation aimed at keeping Syrian refugees from settling in the U.S., with the support of Rep. Don Young, who called for "suspension of Syrian refugee resettlement efforts in the United States." But Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan are split on whether the bill represents the best course of action -- though both called for a "pause" to allow for reassessment of the situation.

Sullivan press secretary Mike Anderson said in an email Saturday that the senator supports the House-passed legislation and "hopes it comes before the Senate for a vote after the Thanksgiving recess."

But Syrian refugees may not be Alaska's greatest concern when it comes to protecting the state from the growing threat of terrorism, Murkowski said in an interview with Alaska Dispatch News, citing other ways extremists may gain entry to the United States -- particularly those from the European Union who can come here without a visa or much additional screening aside from "no fly" lists.

"I think we're all just still trying to figure out: Where do we even start here? We know we've got a lot of serious work and review to do. But I don't know that we're ready with all of the answers right now," Murkowski said.

And the state's senior senator questioned the value in passing a bill that's already in line for a presidential veto.

"I don't think that that solves anything or makes us more secure, or makes Americans confident of our security and our abilities to really be able to identify those who are trying to get into this country to try and inflict harm," Murkowski said.

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But all of Alaska's representatives in Washington, D.C., said President Barack Obama needs to be more open to congressionally-led changes to protect citizens from terrorists abroad, particularly when the nation is considering taking on thousands of refugees from war-torn Syria -- a home base for the Islamic State, or ISIS.

So far, no Syrian refugees have been resettled in Alaska, but there is no bar on bringing them to the state in the future.

The question everyone is raising, Sullivan said last week, "is how can you vet a population" that comes with so little data? "I think Congress is doing the exact right thing right now, which is asking the right questions," Sullivan said.

"It just stuns me to think that the administration has just been sort of laid-back in saying don't worry, trust us on this, we got you covered," Murkowski said.

Young: Obama underestimated ISIS

Years of civil war in Syria have resulted in a crush of refugees leaving the country. Half the nation's 22 million citizens have fled, many to refugee camps, fearing for their lives. Many have headed toward countries on the edge of the European Union, where they are too numerous to contain and are often waived on toward more prosperous nations like France and Germany.

Meanwhile, many of those answering the call of ISIS have gone to Syria to fight or train -- including many of those who were involved in the terror attacks in Paris. Nearly all of the attackers have been identified as French and Belgian nationals. But a fake Syrian passport found near the remains of one of the terrorists, a man who detonated a suicide bomb, amplified fears about radicals using the refugee situation to pass freely through the European Union. Police believe the man with the fake Syrian passport did travel through a checkpoint in Greece in October.

At least four of the attackers were listed in a counterterrorism database, and at least one was on a "no fly list" that would keep him from boarding a plane to the U.S., according to a report by Reuters.

Rep. Young charged the Obama administration with taking a foreign policy approach that has "dramatically underestimated the threats and capabilities of ISIS" and said the nation should have a clearer path to halting the violent acts of Islamic extremists.

The Obama administration has argued that U.S. screening of Syrian refugees, which takes a minimum of 18 months each -- is sufficient. Obama promised to take in 10,000 more refugees over the next year and said he would veto the House bill if it passes the Senate.

Murkowski and Sullivan received a closed-door briefing last week from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and others from the FBI, State Department and the refugee resettlement program, aimed at providing new information about the refugee process, and information about federal investigations that isn't public.

"I thought we got some good information from them about how refugees come to the United States -- the numbers, the process that exists -- and I thought it was pretty helpful," Murkowski said. "What I don't understand, and what many of my colleagues don't understand and shared frustration, was so why don't you say what it is that we do?"

Those claiming to be refugees are first screened by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees, which then passes on a list to the U.S. -- about 10 percent of whom, so far, have been admitted to the U.S. after roughly two years of interviews and screening. The U.S. uses biometric data like fingerprints and photographs to check refugees against a series of databases meant to capture those who are known to anti-terrorism forces across the globe

The United States has admitted about 1,800 Syrian refugees over the last two years. More than half are children, and fewer than 2 percent are young single males, according to the Obama administration.

Sharing more information about the process -- including the "demographic breakdown" -- might alleviate some of the "panic and concern" about potential terrorists entering the U.S. through the program, Murkowski said. She and many others have been frustrated with the attitude by the Obama administration. Last week, Obama took a dig at some Republicans, charging them with being "scared of widows and orphans."

Americans "not very trusting right now

Murkowski and Sullivan have said their office phones have been ringing since the attacks with constituents worried about whether the U.S. is protected from members of the Islamic State.

No doubt, "people are not very trusting right now, in view of the horrific tragedy in Paris," Murkowski said, pointing also to other attacks carried out by the Islamic State in recent weeks.

With concerns mounting, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has even called for a national database to register Muslims in the U.S.

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Murkowski said she would not support any religion-based limits for refugee resettlement.

None of the Syrian refugees have come to Alaska yet, but the state does get a share of refugees each year.

There are more than 1,200 refugees living in Alaska now, from Russia, Laos, Bhutan, Burma, Sudan and Somalia, among others. Over fiscal years 2013 and 2014, the U.S. took in about 140,000 refugees. Of those, 247 were sent to Alaska, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The largest numbers of refugees in Alaska came from Somalia (76), Sudan (61), the Democratic Republic of Congo (24), and Iraq (20).

In Alaska, 13 new refugees entered the state in October, Murkowski said, rattling off a list: "a single Ethiopian woman, a Burmese family of six, Somali family of three, a single Ethiopian man and an Iraqi mother and daughter."

"One thing that has been made clear -- there are no refugees from Syria that have come to Alaska yet," Murkowski said.

Some members of Congress are worried, though, that the process for bringing in those fleeing persecution at home leaves open the chance for dangerous individuals to work their way into the U.S.

The House bill would require top U.S. security officials to certify that any refugee from Syria or Iraq is not a threat to the security of the U.S.

"The safety and security of Americans is paramount and I will not sit idle while extremist groups like ISIS spread violence and hatred across the globe," Young said in a statement late Thursday.

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But as political leaders in Washington, D.C., learn more, some focus is shifting away from refugees -- and the arduous process they undergo to enter the U.S., unlike in Europe -- toward other ways that radicals could gain entrance to the United States.

One such area of concern is the Visa Waiver Program, under which people with passports from certain countries can fly to the U.S. without prior approval. That includes countries like France, Belgium and the United Kingdom, where scores of young Muslim men have been radicalized, sometimes traveling to Iraq or Syria to fight and train with the Islamic State.

"Quite honestly, it's a heck of a lot easier to come in by way of visa waiver," Murkowski said. But the senator said the idea of limiting visitors from visa-waiver countries may not be welcomed by those who depend on their tourist dollars.

In Alaska, "we get a fair amount of tourists coming out of Europe, or from South Korea, which is a visa-waiver country. And so on the one hand you want to say --wait a minute, if people are able to work the system and come in through a visa-waiver country, we need to correct that," Murkowski said.

But Murkowski said she expects many in the state would be concerned about the impact that would have on vital tourist industries.

"So I think what you've got going on right now is a wholesale review and scrutiny of the various programs. You've got the refugee program. You've got political asylees. You've got visa waivers. How else do people come into this country legally, lawfully, and do we have systems in place that are reliable?"

Whatever Congress does must be "more than just messaging," Murkowski said. "This is making sure that we're actually correcting some flaws. And it may be that the refugee process is not the problem. Maybe it is in another area. ... I don't know that. But I think that that is part of our job here, to try to figure out where that problem is. So we've got some work to do."

Erica Martinson

Erica Martinson is Alaska Dispatch News' Washington, DC reporter, and she covers the legislation, regulation and litigation that impact the Last Frontier.  Erica came to ADN after years as a reporter covering energy at POLITICO. Before that, she covered environmental policy at a DC trade publication and worked at several New York dailies.

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