Snyder: Bipartisan Coalition Should Discuss Refugees

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Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who started a stampede among governors closing their states’ doors to Syrian refugees after the Paris terror attacks, wants a bipartisan coalition of state, local and federal authorities involved in developing security vetting processes for refugees.

Snyder, a member of the National Governors Association’s Council of Governors, on Tuesday released a letter he wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson asking that the issue be placed on the council’s agenda for an early December meeting.

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Governors should be allowed to bring their own experts, such as the Michigan State Police, which have intelligence information about local threats, Snyder wrote.

“The Council of Governors has been successful in promoting a robust dialogue between the states and the federal government on issues related to national security, and I believe this would be a natural forum in which to share expertise and best practices related to the security of all Americans,” Snyder wrote.

“I am confident that we can engage in a deep dialogue on the effectiveness of the vetting process,” he wrote. “Further I would like to expand the discussion to include enhanced communication between federal, state and local government officials to ensure the public is well informed about the fidelity of the screening process for all individuals who wish to come to America.”

After the attacks in Paris and Beirut last month, Snyder reversed an earlier position and said Michigan wouldn’t accept any of the 10,000 Syrian refugees seeking entrance to the United States, pending further review by the Department of Homeland Security on vetting procedures.

ISIS, which took responsibility for the Nov. 12 bombings in Beirut and Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, has strongholds in Syria.

The governors, most of the Republicans, argued the safety of Americans was at risk after one of the men responsible for the Paris attacks posed as a refugee and had a Syrian passport.

On Monday, the White House responded to the governors’ call for more information about the refugees who are being resettled in their states and promised more transparency, but did not waiver on the policy to accept refugees.

Under the policy outlined in a letter from White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, the governors will receive reports on the total number of refugees, but not their names, broken down by nationality, age, range and gender. Most of that information is already publicly available, but the Obama administration said it would pass it along more routinely using a customized, password-protected website.