Syrian Refugees Are Not A Threat

Nearly five years into the war in Syria, the diplomats have been brought back into service. The talks launched last month and continuing yesterday in Vienna, when Iran joined the U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to discuss the Syrian conflict, are the first glimmer of political light in years. There is not a moment to lose — as the terrible events in Paris show.

But the declaration of a common commitment to "accelerate all diplomatic efforts to end the war" hides more than it reveals. You wouldn't know from the careful language that 300,000 people are dead, half the country (23 million people before the war began) is homeless, and one fifth have fled. And if you did know, you might scratch your head and wonder whether anyone can halt the death and destruction.

The U.S. has been the biggest single international donor to the relief effort in Syria and the neighboring countries over the past four-and-a-half years, providing more than $4.5 billion. But when it comes to relieving the suffering of vulnerable people — widowed families, for example — by admitting them to the U.S. as refugees, the story is different. Not just different, but minimal.

Since the beginning of the conflict, the U.S. has resettled into this country just over 1,800 Syrian refugees from the Middle East, some of them supported by my organization, the International Rescue Committee, which is providing humanitarian assistance in Syria and its neighbors.

This is a long way from the leadership role that America has traditionally played. I have talked myself to the young men facing conscription into Assad's army, the families running from the hell of war in Aleppo. They know the U.S. doesn't want them, so they are trying to get to Germany. This week in Beirut, Lebanon, young refugee children working on the streets told me that the place they would feel safe was Germany.

Under pressure, President Obama has pledged to take in 10,000 refugees over the next year. That is something. But Turkey is dealing with 2.2 million refugees. Lebanon, a country half the size of New Jersey, has taken in more than a million.

The most common argument against taking refugees is that they are potential terrorists. But the facts belie the case. The refugees I have met across the region, fleeing as they are terror and violence, are innocent civilians. And entering the U.S. as a refugee is by far the most difficult and complex of all routes in; refugees are the single most vetted population entering the country.

All those seeking to come as refugees must first be registered by the UN Refugee Agency, which identifies the families most in need. UNHCR screens each family, painstakingly documents their family composition and history of flight from Syria, then refers those who best qualify for the U.S. resettlement program on to the federal government.

The U.S.'s own vetting process then kicks in, with the Department of Homeland Security conducting in-person interviews, gathering detailed biographical and biometric data and conducting multiple background checks that include combing through multiple federal agencies' respective consular, law enforcement, intelligence and national security databases.

Expertly trained officers from the Department of Defense, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and multiple intelligence agencies are involved in vetting refugees before they are approved to travel to America. Further screening is also conducted when refugees arrive in the U.S., after their first year here, and if and when they apply for citizenship.

There are many ways to come to the United States. Comparatively the refugee resettlement program is the most difficult short of swimming the Atlantic.

The IRC has resettled more than 160,000 refugees from 50 countries over the past 40 years. We strongly support effective and efficient screening for refugees entering the U.S.

But the current process is needlessly slow. The centers that carry out scoping interviews and collect data, the Department of Homeland Security and the other agencies involved in the process are all under-resourced to perform their respective tasks, as is the UN.

Bolstering this capacity, improving inter-agency coordination, and expanding existing resettlement pathways which reunite refugees with family members already residing in the U.S. would do much to eliminate unnecessary time lags and get desperate refugees to safety quicker, without compromising on security.

The U.S. resettled nearly 320,000 Vietnamese refugees over 1979 and 1980. What is needed today is the same political resolve, the same sense of urgency. By historic standards, the U.S. should be taking about 100,000 refugees a year from Syria. That would be a moral and practical example to the world, a protection to some of the most vulnerable people in the Middle East, a show of support for the neighbors of Syria — including Jordan, a close U.S. ally — and a way of living up to America's values.

America cannot provide a home for everyone. But it can show people how to live together.

Miliband is president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee.