A DIVIDED Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved on Tuesday, Dec. 8, a motion to welcome Syrian refugees to the county.
The vote comes days after a mass shooting in San Bernardino killed 14 people and less than a month after 120 were killed in a mass shooting in Paris, where a Syrian passport was found near the body of one of the attackers. This has led to the questions about whether at least one of the attackers may have been a Syrian citizen or posing as one.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who co-authored the motion with Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, said the vote reaffirms the board’s commitment to celebrating diversity, as it did with its decision to commemorate the Armenian Genocide and when it revocated the 1942 vote of the Board of Supervisors that supported Japanese internment in World War II.
“We simply choose to push back on every vestige of bigotry that threatens the best of what it means to celebrate democracy,” Ridley-Thomas said, the Los Angeles Times reported. “We should not tolerate racial antagonism, prejudice or bias in any shape, form or fashion in our own space.”
The board also approved to send a letter to President Barack Obama indicating its support of federal efforts to help Syrians and others fleeing violent countries come into the United States and resettle throughout the next two years. Obama has vowed to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees throughout the next fiscal year.
Supervisor Hilda Solis approved the motion along with Ridley-Thomas and Kuehl, while Supervisor Michael Antonovich, a Republican, voted against it. Supervisor Don Knabe, also a Republican, abstained from voting.
“The consequences are too great,” Antonovich said, expressing doubts about the vetting process.
Knabe did not provide any details on the reason for his abstention.
The current vetting process for refugees typically takes between 18 to 24 months and involves interviews, fingerprinting and database crosschecks by multiple federal agencies. Syrians are subject to additional screening including questioning by Homeland Security Department officials and data from the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Antonovich said he believes the screening process is inadequate and could put Americans at risk, ABC 7 reported.
“The deaths of 129 French citizens at the hands of at least one known Syrian refugee show that the refugee crisis is different from others in history,” he said in a statement.
He also cited “a number of our federal government representatives and officials warning of a serious problem with the vetting processes that are in place” and noted recent remarks by FBI Director James Comey regarding holes in information available to authorities, according to the LA Times.
Multiple news agencies and publications, however, have reported that the passport was fake and that all attackers were identified as European nationals.
“Refugees are subject to the strictest form of security screening of any class of traveler to the U.S. before they are allowed to enter, and are subject to extensive background, security and health checks,” Ridely-Thomas and Kuehl said in the motion. “The process is slow and long and is considered the toughest way to legally enter the United States. We can protect public safety and honor our best American traditions at the same time.”
Fil-Am Burbank resident Joshua Alegado, 23, also expressed support for the Board’s decision to “push back on bigoted, discriminatory policies and welcome Syrian refugees into the county.”
“The vote affirms Los Angeles as a place of diversity and inclusion for many different immigrant communities. It was not long ago when signs were posted stating, ‘Positively No Filipinos Allowed.’ We must take a stand ensure that we do not continue a legacy of racial prejudice and discrimination towards marginalized communities,” he added.
Also in approval of the decision is Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles.
“As a nation founded by those fleeing religious and political persecution, we must not lose sight of our core founding values of welcoming those seeking safety and shelter,” Karin Wang, vice president of Programs and Communications at the organization, told the Asian Journal in an email. “We are disappointed however that Supervisor Michael Antonovich and other elected leaders who represent Muslim, South Asian and Middle Eastern constituents have opposed refugee resettlement and even engaged in rhetoric that serves only to fan the flames of Islamophobia sweeping the nation.”
Although LA County does not decide directly on refugee admissions, its Department of Public Social Services does provide resources, including cash and medical benefits, to refugees resettled in the area.
As of September, data from the department indicated that LA County was providing services to 279 Syrian refugees and a total of more than 18,300 refugees from over 100 countries. Some of those were from Iran, China, Armenia, Egypt and Iraq, according to the LA Times.
While much focus has been given to the vetting process for resettling Syrian refugees, Niels Frenzen, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law, told Los Angeles Daily News that priority should be given to examining other visa programs, such as the tourist visa. He added that many of the Paris attackers were European citizens who could come into the United States under the Visa Waiver Program.
One of the attackers in the San Bernardino shooting on Dec. 2 entered the United States on a fiance visa.
“When you’re focusing on the one visa category that is probably the most vetted of all the visa categories, it is not logical. It makes no sense,” Frenzen told the Daily News. (Agnes Constante / AJPress)
