House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) joined House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul in urging the Senate to take up legislation that puts restrictions on the refugee program. | AP Photo Terror arrests revive anti-refugee push 'We cannot delay while more potential jihadists slip through the cracks,' said the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The terrorism-related arrests of two refugees in California and Texas are breathing new life into a Republican-led effort to severely curb the U.S. resettlement of Iraqis and Syrians fleeing conflict.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), as well as two influential House chairmen — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) — urged the Senate to take up legislation written by McCaul that puts new restrictions on the refugee program. That bill sailed through the House with bipartisan support days after November’s terrorist attacks in Paris, but it drew increasing criticism over time and didn’t make it into the omnibus spending measure as supporters had hoped.


“This morning’s arrests make clear what the president has disregarded for too long: Our refugee program has the potential to be abused, putting the American people at risk of terrorism,” McCarthy said. “The FBI’s diligence allowed us to catch these two individuals before they could carry out an attack on the United States or engage in terrorism abroad, but we must be more vigilant about the threats we are facing.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urging him to take up the bill. The letter, which had more than 30 signatories as of Friday, was being circulated earlier this week, but it gained new urgency as news came of the Texas and California arrests.

“While we have the deepest sympathies for those impacted by the conflict in Syria and the surrounding region, we strongly believe that refugees from Syria and Iraq headed to the United States must receive enhanced screening,” the letter writers state.

The suspects arrested Thursday, both Palestinians born in Iraq, each arrived in America through the U.S. refugee program several years ago. There were reports their cases were linked, but federal officials accuse them of supporting terrorist groups including the Islamic State. It wasn’t clear whether the men had the terrorist ties before arriving in the United States, when they were being vetted by the U.S. refugee program.

Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, reiterated comments last month that indicated McConnell will take up legislation tightening the screening process for Syrian refugees in the first three months of this year. That was a pledge McConnell made to Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in mid-December.

McConnell hasn’t yet committed to bringing up the House bill, however, and the Senate could consider its own version. In any case, McConnell would likely face steep opposition from Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in November that Democrats would successfully filibuster the House refugee bill.

Still, senators have thrown out their own ideas to clamp down on the nation’s refugee resettlement program. Sen. Ted Cruz, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, also lobbied McConnell on Friday to take up his own bills that would halt refugees from countries with a significant Islamic State presence and give states the option to opt out of the resettlement program.

“I commend law enforcement for apprehending these two individuals, but their apprehension raises the immediate question, who else is there?” Cruz said Friday. “What are they planning next? And what can we do to prevent the next terrorist attack before yet more innocent life is taken?”

The arrests in the U.S. also came amid growing outrage in Europe that asylum-seeking men from the Middle East and North Africa are among scores of suspects in a slew of apparently coordinated sexual assaults of women in the city of Cologne, Germany, during New Year's festivities. The allegations raise fears that male migrants from conservative Muslim countries aren't able to integrate into Europe in part because they may have different views on women's rights.

The United States plans to take up to 85,000 refugees from around the world in fiscal year 2016, and up to 100,000 by the following year. Since March 2011, it has accepted roughly 2,500 Syrian refugees, most of them fleeing the jihadists of Islamic State and other terrorist groups or the violence of the Syrian government of Bashar Assad. As the refugee crisis has grown, with more than a million making the trek to Europe, President Barack Obama has said he wants to increase the number of Syrians admitted to 10,000 this year.

Supporters of the U.S. refugee program, which include a number of faith-based networks, note that refugees are the most heavily screened group of people allowed to immigrate to the United States, often having to wait years before being allowed entry. The additional screening required under the House bill would effectively paralyze a program that has had bipartisan support in the past, supporters say.

“If the allegations prove to be true, that would be very upsetting, but these two men certainly do not represent the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program or our refugee communities,” said Yasmine Taeb, a lobbyist with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker organization. “As a faith community, we will continue to appeal for a well-funded, robust refugee admissions program with the existing safeguards. We must ensure the U.S continues to serve as a safe haven for women, men, and children fleeing violence and persecution.”

But in the wake of the Paris attacks, as well as the San Bernardino killings, Republican politicians have raised concerns not just about the refugee program but also visa and other programs allowing foreigners entry into the United States. GOP 2016 candidate Donald Trump even called for a ban on admitting Muslims.

More than half of U.S. governors — including Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who is running for the Senate — said they did not want Syrian and Iraqi refugees resettled in their states. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took the issue to court, and he used Thursday’s arrest in his state to bolster his case. However, analysts say states have little legal leverage over the federally run resettlement program.

The White House, in a bid to save the refugee program, agreed to put new restrictions on people visiting the United States without a visa. Congressional Republicans are exploring more restrictions to the visa system; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said Friday, in response to the arrests, that his committee was drafting legislation that would require a tougher vetting process for visa applicants and all refugees.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest nodded to the debate over the refugee program during Friday’s daily press briefing, saying that imposing “a test based on an individual’s ethnicity to limit their ability to enter the United States doesn’t represent who we are as a country.”

