Is it just me or does anyone else hear the words “You scratch my back. I’ll scratch yours” or “You owe me” when you read that Baltimore plans to resettle Syrian refugees into their city?
The International Rescue Committee that receives donations from the United States government along with private donations, boasts that it is ready to accept new Syrian refugees under President Barack Obama’s plan to bring 10,000 into the U.S.
Having taken in 26 refugees in the recent past, the IRC feels it is now ready to make the big leap into supporting 10,000 new refugees. But why do they feel they are prepared to take on such a large number of refugees? Have they been promised significant U.S. funds if they do so?
People pass railway tracks as they approach the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija,Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015. Hundred of thousands migrants and refugees trying to reach the heart of Europe via Turkey, Greece, the Balkans and Hungary have faced dangers, difficulties and delays on every link of the journey. (AP Photo/Borce Popovski)
Or perhaps Baltimore “volunteered” as the resettlement city for these refugees because of the help they received from the Obama administration following the rioting and looting earlier this year?
Baltimore as you may recall, has had its share of unrest recently.
Following its city’s recent racial tensions and subsequent rioting and looting, the mayor welcomed Obama’s U.S. Department of Justice in to “fix” her city.
Has Baltimore become a “test” city for the influx of these refugees because Baltimore is returning a “favor” for the help it received from the DOJ?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not implying that there are any laws being broken. I’m simply posing the question as to why Baltimore is taking these 10,000 refugees in when the IRC has plenty of other locations in the United States and around the world that may have more experience in resettling refugees.
What can Baltimore expect when it opens its doors to these refugees?
Many of the refugees fleeing from persecution are said to be coming from Syria. However, a report from the United Nations clearly shows otherwise.
According to the U.N., there have been 411,567 arrivals of refugees by sea in 2015, with only 50 percent coming from Syria and the rest from other countries.
In addition, the report indicates that 72 percent are men, 15 percent are children and only 13 percent are women.
If this is a true representation of the population then we can expect similar percentages for those scheduled to settle in Baltimore.
It is also important to know if any of these refugees will be extensively vetted or if they will be given a quick once over and then admitted into the U.S.?
There’s no indication that the IRC is prepared to do the vetting so most likely the FBI or other government agency will perform this task but is there really a way to properly vet them?
Let us not forget that top U.S. counterterrorism officials back in February of this year, were concerned with the fact that terrorists may be hiding among refugees from Syria.
Some Republicans feared then that with Syrians joining groups in the region like the Islamic State, it was possible for some of these “refugees” to fly under the radar without being detected as jihadists.
"You have to have information to vet,” said FBI Assistant Director Michael Steinbach, who heads the bureau’s counterterrorism division. “Databases don't [have] the information on those individuals, and that's the concern.”
So what has changed since February 2015?
Do we now have all of the information on these refugees in a federal database? Of course we don’t.
So then why are we allowing this many refugees into the U.S. and specifically into Baltimore?
Aren’t the citizens of Baltimore concerned that they may be inviting terrorists into their racially-weary city? Or are the Baltimore officials quieting their citizens’ concerns because they have been promised help from the Obama administration in the event a future problem arises within the city?
We see how successful Baltimore handled the riots this year when it allowed “space to destroy” its own city and seemingly tied their police officers’ hands from doing their jobs to protect people and property during those same riots.
One can only imagine what would happen in Baltimore if 10,000 more people joined in the “space to destroy” event should other similar incidents provoke civil disobedience in the future.
Prepare yourselves Baltimore and America because it is not likely that Obama will stop at bringing only 10,000 refugees here. Obama has been allowing refugees into the U.S. since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Some countries have taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees while other countries have allowed in more than a million.
Not to be outdone and wanting to show the U.N. that he is onboard, Obama is likely to allow more refugees in before his presidential term is over.
Many Americans do not want any of these refugees to come into this country because they feel that there are many people in the U.S. who should be taken care of first before others are brought in to be housed, fed, clothed and provided with medical care.
There are others that welcome refugees who are Christian or truly in danger of losing their lives at the hands of the Islamic State.
However, no American wants to see a crisis arise in this country because refugees were not properly vetted and have come to do us harm.
The well-being of America is at stake and Baltimore perhaps is the Obama administration’s “willing” testing grounds for the potential flood of refugees to come.
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