In response to reports from government officials that the State Department has failed in its responsibility to properly vet visa applicants and in the aftermath of the attacks in San Bernardino and Paris, Arizona State legislators have introduced HB2370.
HB2370: sovereign authority; refugees, sponsored by representatives Thorpe, Boyer, Cobb, Fann, Finchem, Mesnard, and Townsend would prohibit the state of Arizona from using any state resources on any “refugee, Unaccompanied Alien Child or other person who is not a citizen of the United States unless the person has undergone a thorough criminal history, terrorism and health background check and has been approved for placement by this state.”
Two of the ISIL operatives involved in the Garland, Texas attack were associated with a Phoenix, Arizona mosque. One ISIL recruiter, Gammie Jamal, trained at a Scottsdale, Arizona gun club.
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According to the Legislative Findings incorporated in the bill, “the state has no confidence that the United States government has fully and competently vetted each noncitizen refugee, unaccompanied alien child and other noncitizen placed within this state by the United States government for health conditions and routine vaccinations. Therefore, the United States government has potentially compromised the public health of the citizens of this state.”
The bill crafters included concerns that because the state has no confidence that federal government “fully and competently vetted each noncitizen refugee, unaccompanied alien child and other noncitizen placed within” Arizona, “the United States government has potentially compromised the safety of the citizens of this state.”
Additional legislative findings:
A. The United States government has not fulfilled its constitutional responsibilities to ensure secure international borders and to regulate lawful, controlled and limited immigration.
B. The United States government has placed noncitizen refugees, unaccompanied alien children and other noncitizens within this state without the knowledge or permission of state and local officials and without disclosing the personal information and locations where these individuals are residing.
C. It typically costs the taxpayers of this state tens of thousands of dollars annually to provide public education and public assistance for each noncitizen refugee, unaccompanied alien child or other noncitizen placed within this state by the United States government.
D. The United States government has not provided full reimbursement of all state and local costs associated with the placement of noncitizen refugees, unaccompanied alien children and other noncitizens placed within this state by the United States government.
Earlier this year, reports of sexual attacks on women in Germany by Arab and North African refugees shocked the world. These reports were followed by the revelation that one of the San Bernardino killers, Tashfeen Malik, 27, carried a passport from Pakistan, where she was born. She entered the U.S. on a fiancée visa in 2014.
According to the New York Times, the failures to properly screen entrants like Malik showed the “shortcomings in how foreigners are screened when they enter the United States, particularly as people everywhere talk more about themselves online. Despite a tremendous electronic intelligence gathering apparatus that captures phone calls and emails around the world, it remains impossible to conduct an exhaustive investigation for each of the tens of millions of people who are cleared each year to come to this country to work, visit, or live.”
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