WASHINGTON — White House plans to allow thousands more refugees into the United States faced stiff opposition Monday in Congress, where Republican lawmakers demanded the right to review, and reject, the effort, citing fears of terrorism.
Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday announced an increase of 15,000 per year for the next two years in the number of refugees the country takes in. He did not say how many would be from Syria.
Under current law, Congress does not have to approve the Democratic administration’s plan. But the House and Senate, both controlled by Republicans, would have to appropriate money to pay for any additional effort.
That would not be easy. Many lawmakers, including some Democrats, worry that Islamist fighters posing as refugees might sneak into the country.
Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, chairman of a Senate immigration subcommittee and a critic of President Barack Obama’s immigration policy, called the plan expensive and dangerous.
“Our schools, job markets and public resources are already stretched too thin. And, even at current rates, we have no capacity to screen for extremist ideology,” Sessions said.
The United States admitted 70,000 refugees last year at a cost of $1.1 billion, the price of screening and up to five years’ resettlement services.
Rights activists say the Obama administration is doing too little to alleviate a crisis that has forced half of Syria’s population from home, hundreds of thousands of whom have moved to Europe and in particular, Germany.
U.S. officials respond by noting Washington is the biggest donor of humanitarian aid. On Monday, the administration announced it was providing $419 million more, bringing U.S. humanitarian assistance to over $4.5 billion during the crisis.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama wants to “scale up” the number of refugees admitted, but security concerns and costs mean Congress would have to get behind a more extensive plan.
Five Republican and one Democratic senators wrote to Kerry and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson last week, urging tight screening of any refugees.
The current U.S. screening process for immigrants from Syria is so tight that only 1,500 refugees have been allowed into the country since the civil war began in 2011.
Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican House Homeland Security Committee chairman, introduced legislation that would require Congress to review plans to admit Syrians and further tighten security screenings.
If enacted, McCaul’s bill would bar the administration from admitting the refugees until both the House and Senate passed a joint resolution allowing it. It also requires the administration to prioritize Christians and members of other religious minorities when admitting people from Iraq and Syria.