Of course the vetting is not done by the government they are fleeing. That wouldn't make sense, and it's not what happens. Let me outline the process - if you think this process is not good, please tell me what you think extreme vetting would do that is not already done now. So far, nobody seems to be answering that question.Robert wrote:Who does that vetting and how do they do it when there is no government in place?Bootstrap wrote:We are talking about a program that admits a tiny fraction of refugees after careful vetting that takes years.
I am not personally scared of refugees, but you make it sound like this is a very secure process. This is why so many are. The vetting process is not really that good.
I've shared this graphic a couple of times now, it answers the questions about process. The first round of vetting is done by various agencies, often involving the United Nations, the government of the country they fled to, and various relief agencies. Even at this point, they are using biometric data, iris scans, fingerprints, etc.
Then about 1% of these are referred for possible resettlement to the United States. Our government looks at the referrals and decides which ones we are interested in, and they go through several rounds of vetting, starting with the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department, looking for connections to bad actors, criminal records, warrants, immigration records, etc. If they are from Syria, the Department of Homeland Security does enhanced screening, and can refer cases to Customs and Immigration Fraud Detection or the National Security Directorate. This process continues as long as they are discovering new information - including discovering a previously used phone number or address that was not know beforehand.
If they get this far in the process, they are then given an interview with the Department of Homeland Security and with Customs and Immigration Services, their fingerprints are taken and submitted and checked against American databases. (For some reason, fingerprints are taken several times at different stages, then tested against different systems.) If questions are raised at the interview or as a result of screening the fingerprints, the process of review continues until all issues are resolved.
If they get that far, there's one more round of Biometric screening, testing against FBI and Department of Homeland Security databases, checking also the watch-list and prior encounters with immigration in the United States and overseas. Fingerprints are also screened against the U.S. Department of Defense database, including fingerprints of people encountered in the Iraq wars and other engagements.
If any security concerns are identified, it doesn't go beyond this point.
If they clear security screening, they go on for medical screening. Cases can be denied due to some medical conditions, or they can treat some diseases to bring them to health before allowing them into the United States.
If they pass both security screening and medical screening, they then get cultural orientation and are paired with an NGO charity like World Relief and attend cultural orientation classes. They make plans for travel. While waiting, they are still being screened to see if any new information comes up.
Then they fly to the United States. During the flight, they have the normal visa, border, and immigration checks that everyone else goes though if they get a student visa or business visa, but it's unlikely that anything will turn up because the process they have been through is so much more stringent.