Was the temporary ban on admitting refugees a self-inflected necessity?

Was the temporary ban on admitting refugees a self-inflected necessity?

If one can step away from emotion and political affiliations for a few moments and look at the story history tells through the use of data, one might see another point of view. Unlike the media, I am not going to spin the data to tell you what the data means. I make no apologies, because you are going to have to figure it out for yourself.

I will share with you two sets of cumulative data on the admittance of refugees for the last eight-years and three-months. The documents used (links provided at the end) are; the FY 2009 thru 2015 Refugee Admissions Statistics, and the Excel Spread sheet, Summary of Refugee Admissions which includes both FY 2016 and the first three months of FY 2017 ending 31-December-2016.

Cumulative totals for Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia as reported by the Department of State:

FY 2009
Iran 5,381
Iraq 18,838
Syria 25
Yemen 47
Total 24,291

FY 2010
Iran 3,543
Iraq 18,016
Libya 1
Syria 25
Yemen 15
Total 21,603

FY 2011
Iran 2,032
Iraq 9,388
Libya 1
Syria 29
Total 11,450

FY 2012
Iran 1,758
Iraq 12,163
Libya 5
Syria 31
Total 13,975

FY 2013
Iran 2,578
Iraq 19,488
Libya 1
Syria 36
Total 22,103

FY 2014
Iran 2,846
Iraq 19,769
Syria 105
Yemen 3
Total 22,723

FY 2015
Iran 3,109
Iraq 12,676
Syria 1,682
Yemen 16
Total 17,485

FY 2016
Iran 3,750
Iraq 9,880
Libya 1
Syria 12,587
Yemen 26
Total 26,244

FY 2017
Iran 1,061
Iraq 3,624
Libya 3
Syria 3,566
Yemen 4
Total 8,258 (1)

(1) Three months into FY 2017 Iran was on track for 4,244; Iraq on track for 14,496; Syria on track for 14,256. These three countries alone could have totaled about 32,996 refugees.

Of the approx 79 countries 25,671 refugees, were admitted in first three months of FY 2017 ending on 31-December-2016. If the current pace continued, 102,684 folks could have been admitted.

Looking at both the 'Ceiling and Admitted' figures for the same years:

FY 2009: 80,000 and 74,654
FY 2010: 80,000 and 73,311
FY 2011: 80,000 and 56,424
FY 2012: 76,000 and 58,238
FY 2013: 70,000 and 69,926
FY 2014: 70,000 and 69,987
FY 2015: 70,000 and 69,933
FY 2016: 85,000 and 84,994 (2)
FY 2017: 110,000 and 25,671 (3)

(2) In FY 2016 the Ceiling was raised by an additional 15,000 individuals. Not accounting for government holidays that was approximately an additional 57 to 58 refugees processed and possibly admitted every day.

(3) In FY 2017 the Ceiling was increased by another 25,000 refugees to 110,000. Raising the two-year total to 40,000 additional potential refugee's each year from FY 2015. Allowing a potential daily increase of 154 to 155 additional refugee's to be investigated, processed, and admitted.

The numbers above do not include an unknown number of refugees who applied, were processed, investigated, and then refused entry.

Commentary:

My concerns.

What I have not found yet, is evidence showing where the government hired additional qualified personnel to adequately process the additional 40,000 possibly admitted refugees, and provide a reasonable minimal level of public safety.

At some point, and I do not know if we have reached that point, or gone beyond that point, yet. The Government is going to fail to do its job, and the public is going to pay a price because of it.

I hope, we have not passed that point.

Bruce Kendall