Amidst the
uproar over Donald Trump’s ridiculous assertion that all Muslims should be kept
out of the United States, what has largely slipped under the radar is that the
prior national debate over banning Syrian refugees has been rendered nearly
moot.
The U.S.-Canadian border is highly porous so if, in the unlikely event that the jihadis’ plan is to launch a “Trojan Horse” attack on the U.S. using the flow of refugees as cover, that horse is now out of the barn.
Canada is
proudly welcoming in waves refugees fleeing the war-torn Middle East, providing
supposed ISIS infiltrators with an easy path into the U.S.
Since 9/11
U.S. national security officials have quietly admitted that the U.S.-Canadian
border, the world’s
longest shared land border, is fully secure along just 32 miles of its 5,000-mile
expanse. While the 2,000-mile Southern border with Mexico is patrolled by
18,000 U.S. border agents, the porous Northern border, which includes vast
areas with very little population, is manned by 2,200 agents.
the prospect of ISIS using the refugee crisis to set up “sleeper cells” in the
U.S. is remote – America has a thorough vetting process and Canada’s protocol is considered fairly effective too.
Certainly, there’s no evidence that Canadian officials purposefully intended to back-door potential U.S. policy by giving refugees free reign to illegally enter the United States.
But Canada’s
plan to open the door to 25,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq by the end of
February — compared to the proportionately small effort by the Obama
administration to allow 10,000 over the next year – has largely blown apart the
entire argument by U.S. conservatives that refugees should be banned in our
country.
Canadian border easy to cross
it to illegally cross into Montana from the sparsely populated Canadian
province of Alberta, where 3,000 Syrian refugees will make a new home? Just ask
Jenny Van Cleve, a waitress in the tiny town of Havre, Mont., 40 miles south of
Canada.
“The border is so easy to cross, pretty much
anywhere. And there are abandoned houses all over the place to hide out in. We
have farmer friends who find people in their buildings all the time,” Van Cleve
told a Canadian news outlet.
U.S.
counterterrorism experts agree. In fact, some have argued that the fear of ISIS
infiltration of refugees, with jihadis enduring up to two years of vetting,
makes no sense when the terrorists can more easily mix with the population of
refugees headed to Canada and then simply walk across the border into the U.S.
According to
the Toronto Star, in per capita terms, Canada’s resettlement
target is 25 times more generous than what Washington envisions. And it will
happen 12 times faster.
Odds are better for ISIS
scholar at the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation, told the New York
Times recently that other efforts to keep ISIS out – by tightening the U.S.
visa process – is only minimally effective.
the visa program to make it into the country remain limited, said Carafano,
who has studied the issue. “If I’m a terrorist, I’ll walk across the Canadian
border — my odds are better.”
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| Prime Minister Trudeau welcome a young refugee |
At the same
time, Canada shows no signs of reversing course or even mitigating its refugee
settlement program.
New Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has emerged as the Canucks’ version of the
anti-Trump in recent days.
The
photogenic Trudeau greeted a planeload of weary
Syrian refugees landing in Toronto early Friday, telling the first of the 163
migrants to disembark that “you’re safe at home now” as he handed them winter
coats.
According to news reports, Trudeau told a gathering of
government employees at the airport: “Tonight they step off the plane as
refugees, but they walk out of this terminal as permanent residents of Canada. This
is a wonderful night where we get to show not just a planeload of new Canadians
what Canada is all about, but we get to show the world how to open our hearts
and welcome people who are fleeing extraordinarily difficult straits.”
Canadians committed to compassion
show Canadians with concerns about the number of refugees coming and the quick
timetable involved, much of the nation has prepared a warm embrace for the new
arrivals.
With the
help of World Vision, an international organization that assists refugees,
Canadian children have created a video in which they gleefully welcome in a
variety of languages kids who fled the Middle East.
The crowd at the Toronto airport included fire/police first responders and some of the many Canadians who are personally sponsoring Syrian refugees, beyond the government resettlement plan.
“I’m here to show my solidarity for and support of the Syrian people going through genocide in Syria,” one of the sponsors said.
Donations have started coming from
businesses. Landlords in many communities have offered refugees discounted
rents. And the Canadian National Railway said it would contribute $5 million
Canadian dollars to communities to help fund refugee resettlements.
Snyder struggles to explain ‘pause’
Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Snyder, who
started the bandwagon effect of U.S. governors vowing to block Syrian refugees
from their respective states, continues to talk his way out of the view that he
abruptly shifted from pro-immigration to anti-immigration.Michigan Radio, which first
reported that Snyder’s prior commitment to welcome those fleeing the Syrian
civil war was never a promise in writing, has again questioned Snyder’s
decision to create a “pause” in the acceptance of refugees.
The public
radio network’s Rick Pluta and Emily Lawler reported this over the weekend:
“The ‘pause’
was a messaging error that called for a clear, blunt explanation to re-set the
conversation.
“Instead, the administration’s response became squishy.
The governor never really explained what a ‘pause’ meant. And, as it turns out,
it was more rhetorical than practical.
“The governor says he’s no longer publicly advocating for
stepped-up resettlements, but conversations with federal officials continue.
Refugee relocation groups also are continuing to plan and prepare for refugee
arrivals that are still months away. There’s really no evidence that any activity
was actually paused by this ‘pause.’”
