Peters Joins Colleagues in Requesting Homeland Security Department Share its Refugee Vetting Process

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) today announced he has joined his colleagues in sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson requesting an update on how the Administration screens refugees from conflict regions. In the letter, Peters and his colleagues noted the mounting backlog of refugee applications in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) pipeline, and requested information about the possibility of refugee interviews being conducted via videoconferencing in war-torn regions too dangerous for U.S. personnel to conduct in-person interviews.

“Over recent weeks, we have all seen the horrifying human toll of the massive flight of refugees from the Middle East,” wrote Peters and his colleagues. “Facing the world’s worst crisis of forcibly displaced people since World War II, the international community is now grappling with how to make the global refugee resettlement system accommodate these record numbers at a scale and a pace that provides true emergency relief.”

Officials known as “circuit riders” from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services travel worldwide to conduct refugee interviews. Unfortunately, violence in regions with large numbers of refugees often causes interviews to be canceled or delayed, leading to a backlog in the refugee admittance process. Currently, DHS has suspended circuit rides in Lebanon, home to over one million Syrian refugees. In Iraq, there is a backlog of approximately 57,000 cases after circuit rides were suspended for nearly one year.

“The Administration has proposed allowing 10,000 Syrian refugees resettle in the United States. However, refugees face a multi-year, multi-step screening process before they can be legally resettled,” wrote Peters and his colleagues. “It is, of course, a national security imperative that anyone granted admission to the United States is vetted comprehensively. For this reason, we believe the Department of Homeland Security has an important role to play in alleviating the enormous pressure faced by many of our allies in the Middle East and Europe.”

Today’s letter was also signed by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).

Last week, Senator Peters sent a letter to President Obama urging the United States to resettle at least 100,000 refugees in the coming years from Syria and persecuted religious minority refugees in both Iraq and Syria, including 30,000 refugees in fiscal year 2016. In September, Senator Peters and Senator Murphy traveled to the Middle East to meet with officials in Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. In addition to holding meetings to discuss ongoing anti-ISIS military operations in Iraq and Syria, Peters and Murphy visited Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan to learn firsthand about the critical role that the United States and its allies play in providing humanitarian assistance to millions of Syrian refugees.

The full text of the letter is below, or click HERE:

The Honorable Jeh Johnson

Secretary of Homeland Security

Washington, DC 20528

Dear Secretary Johnson,

Over recent weeks, we have all seen the horrifying human toll of the massive flight of refugees from the Middle East. Facing the world’s worst crisis of forcibly displaced people since World War II, the international community is now grappling with how to make the global refugee resettlement system accommodate these record numbers at a scale and a pace that provides true emergency relief. We write you to request updates on refugee interview processing, especially as it functions in conflict regions.

The Administration has proposed allowing 10,000 Syrian refugees resettle in the United States. However, refugees face a multi-year, multi-step screening process before they can be legally resettled. It is, of course, a national security imperative that anyone granted admission to the United States is vetted comprehensively. For this reason, we believe the Department of Homeland Security has an important role to play in alleviating the enormous pressure faced by many of our allies in the Middle East and Europe. 

Before refugees can enter the background check process, they must interview with Refugee Affairs officials from the Department of Homeland Security’s division of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). These officials, termed “circuit riders,” travel worldwide throughout the year to interview refugee applicants. However, circuit riders travel too infrequently to keep up with the mounting backlog of refugee applicants in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program pipeline. Moreover, they are often cancelled in countries where populations of greatest need reside. This means that the refugees in the most dangerous areas are often stalled in refugee processing.

For example, DHS has suspended circuit rides in Lebanon, a country with a population of 4 million that hosts about 1 million Syrian refugees. And in Iraq, there is a backlog of approximately 57,000 cases after circuit rides were suspended for nearly one year. They have since resumed, but at a fraction of the scale.

In October 2014, we understand that DHS seriously considered permitting DHS refugee interviews to be conducted via videoconferencing. This technology is widely used within the U.S. Government for interviewing purposes and may be less expensive than sending U.S. employees in person overseas to conduct interviews.

To help us better understand the benefits, impediments, potential implementation, and near- and long-term costs of videoconferencing interviews for Syrian refugees, we respectfully request that you provide the following information:

1. Please provide an update on the schedule and timing of circuit rides to Lebanon and Iraq for the next 12 months and the number of expected interviews in each.
2. What is the status, if any, of DHS’s plans to conduct future refugee interviews via videoconferencing?
3. We understand that DHS considered using videoconferencing in other countries but ultimately decided not to pursue this approach.  Why not?
4. Please provide an explanation of any material difference between what can be gathered by an in-person interview as compared to what can be gathered by an interview using video-conference technology.
5. When conducting interviews via videoconferencing, how would DHS ensure that the feed between DHS and the refugee remains secure?
6. Please provide a cost benefit analysis comparing a secure video conference interview and an in person interview conducted by officials from USCIS.

Refugee interviews conducted via videoconferencing, where needed, would appear to provide a commonsense approach to enable DHS to conduct interviews even in those countries where security concerns most inhibit circuit rides and endanger refugees.  However, we would not encourage cutting any corners that could decrease the national security interests of the United States.  

We thank you for your attention to this important issue and look forward to working with you to respond to this humanitarian disaster.

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