By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services/YourWestValley.com
Gov. Doug Ducey said Tuesday a call from the top advisers to the president has not assuaged his concerns that terrorists could be coming into the country — and Arizona — under the guise of being refugees.
Press aide Daniel Scarpinato said his boss appreciated participating in the conference call along with 33 other governors.
“But there are still legitimate questions about the screening process that need to be answered,” Scarpinato said, before the Obama administration allows any more refugees into the United States. And he said Ducey wants a face-to-face meeting with federal authorities who can provide details, a meeting he said federal law requires the administration to provide.
“This meeting needs to happen so that our Homeland Security officials here in the state can get questions answered, chapter and verse, from federal authorities to ensure everything is being done at the federal level to ensure that no one who is coming here as a refugee has any connection to a terrorist organization,” Scarpinato said.
The White House, in a statement after the conference call, said the aides told the governors of the “rigorous screening and security vetting process that is required before a refugee is able to travel to the United States” and that the “top priority is the safety of the American people.”
While Ducey wants at least a temporary halt in placing refugees in Arizona, many already are here.
The latest figures from the federal Refugee Processing Center show that 2,648 refugees have come to Arizona since the beginning of the year, including 153 from Syria. The agency says 43 settled in Glendale, 47 in Phoenix and 63 in Tucson.
A separate report by the state Department of Economic Security, says total Syrian refugees from all years equals 173. But that state agency largely deals with those who need some sort of government assistance and may not be a complete list.
Scarpinato sidestepped a question of whether the governor believes any of those already here might have terrorist links.
“We need to move with some urgency here, that this consultation needs to happen, that it should happen swiftly,” Scarpianto responded. But he said the governor was not suggesting either the federal government or the state take any action on those individuals.
“He’s talking about new refugees coming in,” Scarpinato said.
In a separate briefing for reporters earlier Tuesday, the State Department sought to provide its own assurances that refugees, particularly from the Middle East, are being thoroughly screened.
The Obama administration has said it plans to accept 10,000 Syrians in the coming year.
Agency spokesman Mark Toner said about half of the Syrians who have so far sought refugee relocation into the United States have been rejected. He said the State Department has “a variety of criteria” to determine “the veracity of their stories,” ranging from what documents they have, where they came from, where they say their families are located and why they ended up where they are.
But Toner said it would be wrong to presume most are terrorists.
“The vast majority of these refugees are victims of the very same violence that we saw in Paris and, frankly, have been living and dealing with a level of violence, a level of brutality, of suffering and sacrifice that’s incomprehensible to us,” he said. “These are vulnerable people and they’re seeking refuge.
In response to a question, he acknowledged that people can be victims of persecution and still have radical views. But he said that’s why there is extensive screening and interviews — and “part of the reason why it takes so darn long.”
“It’s 18 to 24 months to clear these individuals,” Toner said, with multiple agencies involved before someone can get clearance.
Scarpinato, however, said his boss remains to be convinced. And he noted that officials in France said at least one person linked to the terrorism in Paris this past weekend got into that country as a refugee.
“Given the reports of the connection with the Paris terrorist, what is being done additional since that, if anything, to provide extra assurances,” Scarpinato asked. “The governor needs answers to all of those, and needs them in a very formal and detailed way before being comfortable moving forward.”
And Scarpinato said that, for the time being, Ducey is forced to take the administration’s word for it as all the screenings are “done by the feds and not by the state.”
Scarpinato said the response, at least to Ducey’s office, has so far been positive. He said there were 967 phone calls in support against just 55 opposed.
Email response was closer, with 1,191 backing the governor’s call to halt refugees with 519 against.
Ducey’s call to halt refugee settlements in the state drew a sharp response from the Rt. Rev. Kirk S. Smith, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona.
In a prepared statement, he said public support is irrelevant, citing a 1938 survey which showed 68 percent of Americans were opposed to allowing Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany to settle in this country.
“It seems that history does repeat itself,” Smith said, saying calls to keep out refugees shows “lack of mercy” from a nation which should know better.
“Unless you are Native American, chances are your ancestors were refugees themselves,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate that people would use that kind of rhetoric,” Scarpinato responded, saying it’s “not helpful.” He said Ducey’s actions are based solely on his responsibility to protect the safety of Arizonans.
The debate over refugees drew in one other Arizona politician who was responding to calls by presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush that the United States should focus its refugee efforts in Syria on Christians fleeing that country and not Muslims.
The Hill reported that Sen. John McCain said using a religious test on refugees, particularly children, is wrong. “My belief is that all children are God’s children,” the senator said.
