It would be easy for a terrorist to get official documents to gain entry to the United States from Syria — and "there's no such thing" as vetting for refugees, according to a leader of New York's Syrian community.
In an interview with the
New York Post, Aarafat Succar believes terrorists from his homeland have been coming into America "not only in the past few years, but way before that. I think they're already at work."
According to Succar, who emigrated as a child and now belongs to his Brooklyn neighborhood's community council, corruption is so rampant in Syria that anyone can pay bribes to get official identification papers bearing a fake name that would disguise their real identity.
"You can go to the Syrian government today and say to them, 'I need a piece of paper that says I'm Tony Caterpillar.' And they give it to you," he tells the Post.
"These are not forged documents. These are written out by a government employee who needs money, whose family has no food."
"Third World countries, particularly places like Syria, do not have the network of information the United States has," he adds. "In Syria, there's no such thing. So when they tell you that [the refugees] are vetted, are you out of your mind?"
Succar's criticism comes as
Congress weighs more restrictions on the State Department's plan for Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States — and concerns about the program, including from senior
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday eight Syrian refugees have settled in the city as part of an official State Department program; City Hall later lowered that number to four, the Post reports.
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