Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions is going after a top immigration official who earlier admitted the U.S. government has invited future terrorists into American communities, the Obama administrationâs much-touted âvetting processâ aside.
âThe fact isâanybody that understands the challenge they face to do this vetting. You cannot vet people from Syria, because thereâs no way, and we have no plans to send anybody into Syria to verify anything that they say,â Sessions told LeĂłn RodrĂguez during his testimony before a Senate panel.
âThatâs the problem, fundamentally,â the Republican continued. âAre you not aware that I have written four letters to the Department, asking for information on how many refugees have been convicted of criminal and terrorist activities?â
RodrĂguez, who directs citizenship and immigration Services for the Department of Homeland Security, said he wasnât. âI confess Chairman, I am not. I will certainly make sure to follow up on those correspondenceââ
âThis is absolutely breathtaking,â Sessions cut in. âIt is a total disrespect to this body, who is in charge of giving you money to run your business. We should quit giving you money if you donât respond and you donât know basic things.â
Sessions, who who chairs the Senateâs Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, listed the letters he sent to the Department of Homeland Security, along with one sent directly to the president demanding to know how many refugees were convicted on criminal or terrorism charges in the U.S. âSo do you think weâre entitled to know this?â he asked.
âI willâof course youâre entitled to answers to your questions. I will follow up, sir,â RodrĂguez said.
âWell, to me, it indicates the determination to promote an agenda without listening to the American people, without listening to their elected representatives, and to downplay and to misrepresent, really, the danger that this program presents,â Sessions said. âAnd weâre not having terrorists from a lot of areas, but some areas weâre having terrorists that threaten this country in a whole lot of ways.â
Sessions added that he had sent the letters to Department of Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson, and would take it as an âabsolute refusalâ to respond to legitimate requests to Congress if no one in the department brought them to Johnsonâs or RodrĂguezâs attention.
RodrĂguez also tried to clarify âour operations are fee-funded, not tax-funded. Theyâre not funded by the taxpayers.â
âSo youâre not funded by the taxpayers. And so you donât have any responsibility to the taxpayers?â the Alabama senator asked.
âNo, we have a responsibility to the taxpayers,â RodrĂguez backtracked, âand the American people to do our job the right way. Thatâs not the point I was making.â
âYou donât get any fees that Congress hasnât authorized, isnât that true?â Sessions asked.
âThatâs certainly true,â RodrĂguez admitted.
Sessionsâ office found in June that of the 580 people convicted of terrorism-related offenses between September 11, 2001, and December 31, 2014âwhich does not include the terrorist Muslims who carried the 9/11 attacksâ380 were foreign-born, with 24 of those brought in as refugees.
Adding to the Department of Homeland Securityâs immigration scandals, an audit revealed over 1,811 aliens from terrorist countries under final deportation orders were granted U.S. citizenshipâgiving them the right to vote and gain security clearancesâwith the Obama administration shutting down the program that uncovered the rampant fraud.
Another Obama administration official refused to say how many Syrian refugees specifically the government plans to ship to American neighborhoods. The outgoing Obama administration wants to ship 110,000 refugees altogether to the U.S. in fiscal year 2017, which begins October 1.
Source: Breitbart