SYRIAN REFUGEES; Congressional Record Vol. 161, No. 174

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SYRIAN REFUGEES

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Woodall). Under the Speaker's announced

policy of January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is

recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.

Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, although there are apparently those in the

media that think it is fun to belittle people who express their great

sympathy, thoughts, and prayers for the victims and their families out

in San Bernardino, California, right now, those of us who care do

extend our thoughts and prayers for those people.

We don't know quite yet who the perpetrators were. I think this is

important, as we have been talking about Syrian refugees quite a bit

the last few weeks, and the President's intention to bring Syrian

refugees into this country.

Our friend, Senator Jeff Sessions, provided a list of 12 vetted

refugees from areas where we actually had material, where we had

information. Unlike the Syrian refugees, the FBI and Homeland Security

felt they had plenty of information to vet these individuals, did vet

them, thoroughly checked them out, and then brought them into the

country.

This article from Neil Munro is dated November 24, 2015. He mentions:

\\\`\\\`Senator Jeff Sessions is out with a list of 12 vetted refugees who

quickly joined jihad plots to attack the United States.

\\\`\\\`He's spotlighting the refugees-turned-jihadis because he's trying

to prod GOP leaders into halting Congress' normal practice of giving

the President huge leeway to import foreign migrants and refugees into

the United States.''

It goes on: \\\`\\\`Obama says the new refugees will be vetted. But top

security officials say the Syrians can't be vetted because the U.S.

doesn't know what they were doing in Syria before they applied for

refugee status.''

{time} 2045

The article goes on:

\\\`\\\`Besides, many of the jihad attempts in the United States are

launched by the children of Muslim refugees and migrants. That list

include the two Chechen brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon, and

Anwar al-Awlaki who was killed by a U.S. missile strike when he fled to

Yemen after the 9/11 atrocity. That means the Americans' federal

government is actively importing national-security problems that will

eventually cost billions of dollars to manage, but cannot be

eliminated.''

And this list only covers 2015. There may be many more from 2015.

There are certainly many more from prior years.

But here are just some of the individuals that this administration

completely vetted, made sure they were not a threat to the United

States and our people, and, yet, brought them in only to find they were

and are terrorists.

On January 29, 2015, in the United States District Court for the

Eastern District of Virginia, a Federal warrant was unsealed for the

arrest of Liban Haji Mohamed--a native of Somalia who sources indicate

came to the United States as a refugee, adjusted to lawful permanent

resident status, and subsequently and applied for and received

citizenship.

\\\`\\\`Mohamed is believed to have left the U.S. on July 5, 2012, with the

intent to join Al-Shabaab in East Africa. Mohamed previously lived in

the metro D.C. area and worked as a cab driver, and is believed to have

snuck across the border to Mexico after being placed on the no-fly

list. Carl Ghattas, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Washington,

D.C. Field Office, emphasized the importance of locating Mohamed:

\\\`Because he has knowledge of the Washington, D.C., area's

infrastructure such as shopping areas, Metro, airports, and government

buildings, this makes him an asset to his terrorist associates who

might plot attacks on U.S. soil.' '' One refugee.

Second refugee: On February 5, 2015, a native of Somalia came to the

United States as a refugee. And this was done under the Bush

administration. Abdinassir Mohamud Ibrahim came at the age of 22, in

2007, and then was later adjusted to lawful permanent resident status.

But, on February 5, he was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison

for conspiring to provide material support to Al-Shabaab, a designated

foreign terrorist organization. He lied on his application for

citizenship, lied on his request for refugee status, and falsely

claimed--these are what he was convicted of and charged with--falsely

claiming that he was a member of the minority Awer clan in Somalia and

subject to persecution by the majority Hawiye clan. However, Ibrahim

was actually a member of the clan that was the persecutor and not the

persecuted. That was Mr. Abdinassir Mohamud Ibrahim.

Also, in Missouri, Abdullah Ramo Pazara, a native of Bosnia, came to

the United States as a refugee, completely

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vetted, adjusted to lawful permanent resident status, was made a

citizen in 2013, 5 years into the President's administration.

He has been named in an indictment with five other individuals as a

terrorist. He is thought to be dead, but the others listed provided

material support to Pazara who allegedly left the United States to go

to Syria and fight with ISIS just 11 days after becoming a U.S.

citizen.

Then there is also Ramiz Zijad Hodzic. A native of Bosnia, he is a

purported Bosnian war hero who came to the United States as a refugee.

He is charged with conspiring to provide material support and resources

to terrorists and providing material support to terrorists.

You also have this year Sedina Unkic Hodzic, wife of Ramiz Zijad

Hodzic, also a native of Bosnia. She came to the U.S. as a refugee. She

is charged this year with conspiring to provide material support and

resources to terrorists and providing support to terrorists.

Then you have Armin Harcevic. He came to the United States as a

refugee from Bosnia and subsequently had that adjusted to lawful

permanent resident status. He is charged with providing material

support to terrorists. He collected money from third parties and wired

it and his own funds to terrorists.

Then you also have Nihad Rosic, a native of Bosnia, who sources

indicate came to the United States as a refugee. He applied for and was

granted citizenship and has been charged with conspiring to provide

material support and actually providing material support to terrorists.

He is a truck driver and a former mixed martial arts fighter. He

previously had been charged with endangering the welfare of a child

after punching a woman in the face while she held a child. In a

separate incident, he was charged with assault after allegedly beating

his girlfriend. But, apparently, nothing came of those charges until he

was charged with supporting terrorism.

Mediha Medy Salkicevic, a native of Bosnia, came to the United States

as a refugee, applied for and was granted citizenship, was also charged

with conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists

and providing that support to terrorists.

Salkicevic was formerly an employee with a cargo company that deals

with items coming in and out of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport,

another refugee alleged by this administration to now be a terrorist.

Jasminka Ramic, a native of Bosnia, came as a refugee, applied for

and was made a citizen, was charged with conspiring to provide material

support and resources to terrorists and providing that support to

terrorists by this administration.

You have got Abdurahman Yasin Daud, born in a refugee camp in Kenya.

He came to the United States as a refugee when he was a child and was

subsequently adjusted to a lawful permanent resident, has been charged

with conspiracy to attempt to provide material support to ISIS. He and

another individual are alleged to have driven from Minnesota to San

Diego to attempt to get passports, cross the border in Mexico, and fly

to Syria.

Also, this year you have Guled Ali Omar, born in a Kenyan refugee

camp. He came to the United States as a refugee. The United States gave

him citizenship. This administration has charged him with conspiracy

and attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

Another one of his brothers, Mohamed Ali Omar, was convicted in March

of threatening Federal agents when they came to the residence to

interview Guled Omar.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota said that Omar

\\\`\\\`never stopped plotting'' and had previously attempted to leave the

United States, another one of the refugees turned U.S. citizen, all the

while, at least part of the time, a terrorist.

And then also this year, in August, a native of Uzbekistan, Fazliddin

Kurbanov, came as a refugee in 2009, was found guilty on charges he

conspired and attempted to provide material support to a designated

foreign terrorist organization and possessed an unregistered

destructive device.

U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Carlin stated that he conspired

to provide material support to the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan and

procured bomb-making materials in the interest of perpetrating a

terrorist attack on American soil.

According to press reports, Kurbanov began his life as a Muslim,

supposedly faced persecution when his family converted to Christianity

and came to the United States with his family as a refugee, and, as it

turned out, he is Islamic and radicalized.

So it is interesting. This administration assures us we have nothing

to fear, nothing to be concerned about. I am not afraid, but I am

concerned about the oath that every one of us take.

We are supposed to provide for the common defense in this country. It

is an obligation we have. I think it is the most important obligation

we have. We are supposed to protect the Constitution against all

enemies, foreign and domestic.

As Andrew McCarthy pointed out this past week in one of his articles

on National Review Online, it should be important not merely to check

to see if we have any information about an individual wanting to come

here as a refugee or gaining a visa, however they intend to come,

illegally, as millions have, more are every day.

It would be important to ask not simply is this person a terrorist

right now, but it would also be important to ask: Are you one of the

two-thirds or so that have been reported to be in the United States or

wanting to come into the United States as a Muslim who believes that

Shari'ah law should replace the Constitution?

Because, if those reports are accurate, that two-thirds of the

Muslims here believe Shari'ah should replace the Constitution, and they

are immigrants and they become citizens, then it means that they

absolutely perjured themselves in their oath.

That should be grounds for revoking their citizenship. And if it

can't be used as such, we need to make sure it is used as such by what

we do here in Congress.

In the meantime, we have heard Ben Rhodes and so many others say: Oh,

yeah. No. The FBI, Homeland Security, are going to be able to vet

everybody really well.

FBI Director Comey has made clear publicly--regardless of what he

said privately, that does not change anything he said publicly.

Publicly he has made clear: Yeah. We will vet them. But when you tell

us their names, we have nothing to either verify or disprove what they

have said.

We have got nothing. We don't have any records from Syria. We don't

know if they are even from Syria. We don't know. We don't have the

information to vet them.

FBI had more information to vet people coming from Iraq, and we know

that they missed a couple of terrorists that were in Kentucky that were

allowed in. I think it was 2009. And it turns out they just missed that

their fingerprints--at least one of them--was on an IED in Iraq. The

guy is a terrorist.

{time} 2100

So despite what this administration tries to assuage, the borders are

open. We have Syrian refugees that the President is bringing into the

United States, even when Governors say: We understand you can't vet

these people, so you are not bringing them into our States.

I see this afternoon that the Governor of my State, Greg Abbott, has

sued the administration because the administration has made clear: We

don't care what you think, we don't care that you are Governor of your

State, and we don't care about the 10th Amendment. We say we are

putting Syrian refugees in Texas, and there is nothing you can do about

that.

Mr. Speaker, that kind of reminds me of the kind of things that King

George and his bureaucrats used to say before the Revolution. When King

George decided he would put his British soldiers anywhere he wanted to

and there was nothing the people here could do about it, he would put

them in their houses. He didn't care what it did to their property

values. He didn't care anything about that. We don't need a revolution.

We just need to have Congress hold the President accountable for his

administration's lawlessness.

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Mr. Speaker, the President has got to secure our borders. He is

putting American lives at risk every day. He is putting American lives

further at risk since we know now we routinely have people that are

completely vetted by the FBI, Homeland Security, and it turns out they

are terrorists. The Tsarnaev brothers, even after Russia warned the CIA

and the FBI that this guy, this older brother, has been radicalized,

the FBI talked to him. He said: I am not radicalized. It is not his

exact words. You talk to his mother, she said: No, he is a good boy.

And then he went and killed people at the Boston Marathon with his

brother.

If we can't even stop people when we are alerted that they are

terrorists, how in the world does this President and this

administration think they are going to keep the American people safe?

The report here, December 1, Tom LoBianco with CNN, said: \\\`\\\`President

Barack Obama's former top military intelligence official said Tuesday

that the White House ignored reports prefacing the rise of ISIS in 2011

and 2012 because they did not fit their reelection \\\`narrative.'

\\\`\\\` \\\`I think they did not meet a narrative the White House needed. And

I'll be very candid with you, they just didn't,' retired Lt. Gen.

Michael Flynn, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency . . .

\\\`I think the narrative was that al Qaeda was on the run, and Osama bin

Laden was dead . . . they're dead and these guys are, we've beaten

them,' Flynn said, but the problem was that despite how many terrorist

leaders they killed they \\\`continue to just multiply.'

\\\`\\\`Obama has been criticized by opponents for referring to ISIS as the

\\\`JV squad' and apparently underestimating the group's threat.''

Well, Mr. Speaker, since we know the President has underestimated

ISIS as a threat, clearly underestimated them, and there is no clear

strategy to deal with them, what makes us think that this

administration is going to do a better job of vetting potential

terrorists coming into this country and underestimating them the way

they have so many other refugees that have been brought into the

country?

Another article from Jim Hoft, December 2, 2015, quoting the

President: \\\`\\\`Yes. He really said this.

\\\`\\\` \\\`You go down to Miami and when it's flooding in high tide on a

sunny day, the fish are swimming through the middle of the streets.' ''

The Wall Street Journal reported the same thing, the same quote. But

The Wall Street Journal reported: \\\`\\\`We go down to Miami with some

frequency and have never seen any such thing. And believe us, we know

how to troll.''

But the President can find fish in the streets of Miami that nobody

else seems to see, but he can't seem to notice how wide open our border

is, what a threat to our security it is, and what a threat refugees are

who we cannot determine who they are, where they came from, what they

did, if they kill people, if they are terrorists. He didn't see any of

that.

There was a report from today, 4:20 actually, from Adam Kredo from

freebeacon.com: \\\`\\\`More than 179,000 illegal immigrants convicted of

committing crimes, including violent ones, continue to roam free across

the United States, with reports indicating that these illegal

immigrants commit new crimes \\\`every day,' according to lawmakers and

the director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, also

known as ICE.

\\\`\\\`Sarah Saldana, ICE's director, disclosed to Congress on Wednesday

that the agency is apprehending and removing fewer illegal immigrants

than in past years.

\\\`\\\`Somewhere around 179,029 \\\`undocumented criminals with final orders

of removal' from the United States currently remain at large across the

country and are essentially untraceable, according to Sen. Chuck

Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who disclosed

these numbers during a Wednesday hearing.

\\\`\\\`The total number of criminal illegal immigrants in the United

States is in the millions.

\\\`\\\`Illegal immigrant criminals are known to be committing new crimes

\\\`every day,' according to Sen. Jeff Sessions, another member of the

committee.

\\\`\\\`Focus on the threat of criminal illegal aliens comes amid a wider

national debate on immigration to the United States and the threat

posed by potential terrorists and other criminals.

\\\`\\\`The Washington Free Beacon disclosed in August that the Obama

administration had been keeping secret the release of violent criminal

illegal immigrants and only began notifying local law enforcement

agencies about this within the last several months.

\\\`\\\`The administration is continuing a policy of hiding information

about this issue, as \\\`several administration officials informed the

committee they were unable to testify because the hearing wasn't \\\`\\\`in

response to a particular crisis,' '' Grassley said.

\\\`\\\`Saldana revealed at the hearing that somewhere between 30,000 and

40,000 illegal immigrants previously convicted of crimes have been

released from custody in recent years due to legal restrictions on how

long the agency can detain an individual.''

Here is a quote from Saldana. She said: \\\`\\\` \\\`Whether it's a result of

protracted appeals or refusal of a country to accept its nationals

back, this decision accounts for somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000

convicted criminal alien releases in recent years' . . . noting that

the number has dropped over time.

\\\`\\\`Lawmakers remain concerned that the Obama administration is

dragging its feet when it comes to taking action to deport criminal

illegal immigrants. While President Obama has vowed that this would be

a priority for his administration, these criminals continue to be

released into the United States.

\\\`\\\` \\\`Many criminals remain in our communities,' Grassley said. \\\`When

will enough be enough? Even those with violent criminal histories

aren't being removed as promised . . . American citizens are paying the

price while law enforcement officers are instructed to look the other

way.'

\\\`\\\`There have been \\\`thousands of victims' of crimes committed by

illegal immigrants and \\\`many of the agency's own officers are unable to

do the job they signed up to do,' Grassley said.

\\\`\\\`The Obama administration is removing fewer total illegal immigrants

from the United States than it was just a few years ago, according to

Senator Sessions.

\\\`\\\` \\\`Not only are total removals down, but the number of removals of

criminal aliens from the interior of the United States, the so-called

priority, has decreased significantly,' he said. \\\`The reason for this

decrease is not because there are fewer criminal aliens in the U.S.

today than just a few years ago, there are hundreds of thousands of

known criminal aliens in the United States.'

\\\`\\\` \\\`New crimes are committed every day by criminal aliens, so while

we're not seeing a decrease in crimes committed across this country, we

are seeing a decrease in removals of criminal aliens,' Sessions said.

\\\`\\\`This cannot be blamed on a lack of financial resources, Sessions

said, as Congress has increased funding. Still, deportations have

plummeted and the administration is \\\`doing substantially less with

substantially more.'

\\\`\\\` \\\`Our goal should be to keep 100 percent of all criminal aliens out

of the United States. . . . There's nothing wrong or controversial

about such a policy.'

\\\`\\\`Saldana confirmed that \\\`overall apprehensions on the border are

declining' and the agency's \\\`removal numbers are lower than they have

been in recent years.'

\\\`\\\`However, she maintained that the administration is removing \\\`at a

greater proportion' dangerous criminals.

\\\`\\\`Of the 235,000 deportations, 59 percent of them were convicted

criminals, according to Saldana . . . Yet she said, \\\`there are also

times when despite our best efforts' criminal illegal immigrants \\\`get

released from our custody.' ''

An article today from Dianne Solis, Tom Benning, and Brandi Grissom:

\\\`\\\`The State of Texas is suing the federal government and the

International Rescue Committee, after the New York-based aid agency

announced plans to resettle Syrian refugees in Dallas later this week

over the strong and repeated objections of Gov. Greg Abbott.

\\\`\\\`The State Health and Human Services Commission, filed on Wednesday

the suit in U.S. District Court, saying those groups worked to resettle

\\\`refugees in Texas without consulting with

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Texas or working in close cooperation with the Commission.'

\\\`\\\`The agency, citing \\\`reasonable concerns about the safety and

security of the citizenry of the State of Texas' is seeking a temporary

retraining order.

\\\`\\\` \\\`We have been working diligently with the International Rescue

Committee to find a solution that ensures the safety and security for

all Texans, but we have reached an impasse and will now let the courts

decide.' ''

That is Health and Human Services spokesman Bryan Black.

Tonight at 6:30, I got this article from Tanya Somanader, President

Obama on the shooting in San Bernardino. Here is the transcript of the

President's comments. This is in an interview with CBS that President

Obama spoke about the ongoing situation in California--going on right

now--and the unacceptable pattern of mass shootings the U.S. is facing.

Mr. Speaker, let me just parenthetically insert before reading his

quote, we don't know who these shooters are yet. We don't know. We

don't know their reason for doing what they did. I mean, some on the

left have already tried to report that it was right by a Planned

Parenthood facility when that was a mile away, trying to do whatever

they can to try to avert responsibility--any responsibility--that the

administration has. We have seen Kathryn's Law come about because

Kathryn was shot in California in a sanctuary city that protected

people who were illegally in this country and criminals like the one

that shot Kathryn. And this administration protects sanctuary cities

and lets them continue to just ignore Federal law. The lawlessness of

this administration seems to know no bounds. If lawlessness breeds

lawlessness, then the lawlessness of this administration has put this

country in severe jeopardy.

{time} 2115

But here is what the President said, part of his quote from this

evening, about the shooting in California. And I am quoting the

President.

\\\`\\\`And for those who are concerned about terrorism, some may be aware

of the fact that we have a no-fly list where people can't get on

planes, but those same people who we don't allow to fly could go into a

store right now in the United States and buy a firearm, and there's

nothing that we can do to stop them. That's a law that needs to be

changed.''

The President, the entire time he has been in office, has tried to

subvert the Second Amendment to our United States Constitution and our

Bill of Rights. He has tried every which way he can, whether using

Social Security laws or all kinds of ways, to take away Americans'

Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

As we see that the administration has been knowingly allowing

criminals into this country illegally and allowing refugees to come

into this country that were terrorists and even finding out, getting

word that there were people who have become terrorists and not taking

action to stop the death that followed, how dare anyone allow people to

come into the United States illegally, knowing that there are some

criminals coming in with people that are coming in illegally, knowing

that there are criminals in the United States that this administration

has allowed to be released after they have committed crimes.

And then coming to the point now today where he says, you American

citizens are going to have to give up your Second Amendment rights to

keep and bear arms because I have allowed so many people who are

terrorists in here and we don't want terrorists to get guns. That is an

outrage. It should not be allowed to stand against any kind of

legitimate reasoning.

You can't bring people into this country that are a threat to the

country and then, because all these people are here and they might get

a gun, you are going to keep law-abiding people from getting guns. That

is wrong, and it has to be stopped.

I hope and pray our Congress will stand up and stop the lawlessness

and say, we are not letting you bring more refugees into this country

that will have some terrorists within their group, as you have already

done, and then tell us we have to give up our constitutional rights

because you brought terrorists into the country that may want to go buy

a gun. Shame on you.

I yield back the balance of my time.

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Allen). Members are advised to avoid

engaging in personalities toward the President.

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