Transcripts For ALJAZAM Inside Story 20150917

Inside story. Welcome to inside story. Im ray suarez. Before the civil war began, syria had more than 22 million residents. Today, something approaching half those residents have been driven from their homes. Civilians have been killed by the hundreds of thousands during the fighting and major cities have become simply unlivable. So millions have fled, men and women young and old crossing borders into jordan, turkey and lebanon and as youve seen on tv for weeks, many have been crossing the Eastern Mediterranean in boats trying to get to europe. United states has not been part of the debate, meant to dislodge syrian president Bashar Alassad from power and defeating i. S. I. L, overwhelmed by the human flow from the middle east, hungary has confined and sealed off its borders, using tear gas and water cannon from preventing refugees from movement inside the country. The United States has a small initial opening for people fleeing syrian. Al jazeeras adam may have been talking about the horrors back home. We are disappointed, really. Zawir has given up on the u. S. Government. We first met this Syrian American in 2013, trying to find solace in his ohio garden between frustrating calls to the United States state department. This is zahir al watr. Im an american citizen originally from syria, id like to get my brother and his family here. I really appreciate your help i really need your help so please give me call back, thank you very much. Reporter now two years later after failing to debt any help from the federal government, his sister is among the dead refugees. Trying to escape syria with her two children like thousands of others she paid a smuggler to help them across the sea hoping to reach sweden. Once they got to the first island, my sister was getting really sick. And once they hit the land, and they called and ambulance or something, on the way to the hospital she passed away. Reporter she died. Why was it so important for your sister to get her kids to europe equal. Because theres no place for them. They cannot work, they cannot go to school. She was to give anything she can to get them to the safety. El watr isnt alone. His group of Syrian American friends in columbus, ohio meet often to discuss the conflict. The lack of american intervention. And fears for their family members still living in the war zone. Reporter do you think youll ever go pack to syria . Once we got that dictator out, yes. Reporter you want to go back . I will go back. To help. Reporter hoping more of his family doesnt die waiting. Adam may, al jazeera, columbus, ohio. Today has been a frantic day in europe as syrians flow across some borders, stopped in others, welcomed in some cases, shot with Water Cannons in others. United states is making its first tentative entrance into that. Director of Refugee Resettlement under president obama. If you are in trouble somewhere in the world and you want to come to the United States, compared to other places is it easy or hard to get into this country . Its actually quite difficult to come to this country. You know, there is pure ways of coming to this country through a process, sometimes it would take up to two years, sometimes it may take even up to ten years. So the process is not easy. If you have 60 million refugees and you bring in either 10,000 or 70,000, thats just a drop in the sea. So the process is not easy, it requires a lot of security clearance, a lot of preparation. So its not a very easy process. You know were known around the world for taking large numbers of immigrants. How is it different if yo you aa refugee . Coming for employment or they have family here so the process is quite different. So refugees are going through a completely different process than immigrants coming to this country. Having said that, since 1975, we have actually resettled over 3 million refugees. In fact in 1980, we managed actually to resettle over 200,000 refugees from Southeast Asia after the war in vietnam. So we have a long history of providing refugee settlement in this country. Even though our country is part of the refugee enemy run history. Im glad you mention the Refugee Resettlement after the war in vietnam, many did eventually come here. But if we were to compare the number who are able to come illegally from afghanistan and iraq where United States forces were fighting for years, is that a large number . Well im not sure it was a large number but the good thing, at least any iraqi who is working with the u. S. Government is going through a process to come here. I think we managed to bring in quite a number of iraqis or afghans, we came one a special visa for them as part of the u. S. Program. As you know there are complaints that it is very slow, for those who are considered collaborators. I am with you, we have asked the u. S. Government to expedite the process, we have a much better understanding of who they are. But again i think post9 11 the process, the security process, makes this very difficult to have a very Quick Deployment of u. S. Staff and then processing refugees immediately after that. This is a story that you understand not only from the point of view of a Government Official but you lived this didnt you . Absolutely. I was a refugee myself in the 1980s so i came to this country in 1982. But 1982 and to you know 2001 is a completely different process. But as i say, we have a long history of refugees that i just mention since the refugee act of 1980 we managed to bring in 3 million refugees from so many places from bo boz bosnia from , there are a lot of security checks, screening, association, they have to prove that they have a well founded fear of persecution so theres a lot of interview we conduct we have Homeland Security involved no. Screening process. And skinder nagash, well here you later in the program. Europe and United States negotiate with syrias neighbors, should countries be prepared to house, feed, support, school, refugees for months, years, permanently, and if you welcome and help desperate victimized people must you be prepared not only to shelter them for a time but for a very long haul . Whos my neighbor . Its the inside story. Story. Youre watching inside story, im ray suarez. Youve seen the pictures, youve heard the are interviews, syrian families who have left behind everything to seek shelter elsewhere even at the risk of their own lives. Borders are closing to refugees all over eastern and Southern Europe and now the United States far from the fighting has made a commitment to take 10,000 syrians fleeing from the conflict. Are they welcome, to one man the answer may be no, foxs bill oreilly. Hundreds of thousands of migrants will eventually find their way to north america. Its just a matter of time. So heres the bottom line. If the u. S. And western europe continue to blunder in the face of the jihad, the world will devolve into continual conflict and humanitarian disaster. Theres no question about it. One voice of certainty in a crisis where there seems to be more questions than answers. Who is my neighbor, as skinder nagas and i are joined, dr. Moussa, do you expect to hear more of that kind of talk, of the threat of Syrian Refugees in the United States before we actually see any arrive here . Yes, i do expect plenty of that. As a matter of fact it is our fear in our organization that this horrific humanitarian situation in syria is being politicized and being used for political advantage. It is similar to what we have whether the mexican cross the borders, similar to any other situation. Mr. Suarez, you started saying that plenty of cities are damaged in syria but the fact of the matter still exist that there are plenty of cities that are still inhabited and people are living well in syria. The displaced people inside syria are way way higher than the people leaving the country. We like to think if the United States of america want to help refugees they are better off helping them in syria instead of helping organization as republic of Syrian Americans, stopping dollars to support them rather than leaving the country and be a problem for the whole world. We expect the make it a political issue and thats not where we want it to be. Well who should seek safety in the United States then . There are a lot of Syrian Americans. Should they get the first cut at this opportunity . People who already have relatives in the United States . Its a good possibility, nevertheless if people are in need we should help all the people that are in need whether its from syria or iraq or ethiopia like your guest was there. The fact of the matter still exists. If we help them stay in their country, far outweighs the fact if they come here. We welcome them as Syrian Americans here we ask our government to help them, nevertheless we should stop bombing them there, the child that was killed on the turkish shores was not in the area where the government was hitten. He was in kobani where daesh was hidden where i. S. I. S. Was hidden and the fact of the matter his father took his little body to his home town and he was able to take him there, bury him there, have a ceremony there. We can help the people stay in their home town and helping them live there rather than taking them out of the country. Nevertheless when they reach out we are required to help them and the Syrian Americans are ready to help. Syrian americans in the United States are very well organized civically active. Take us behind the scenes. Are there lots of conversations with members of congress, staicht, whatstatedepartment, e day to day . We are well organized. When we talk to them they say definitely it is a topic that we need to discuss. But their insistence that they need to change the government in syrian is overweighing every other topic, we like to see it the way it is. No matter who is in charge, no matter who is against whom, syrians should sit and talk to each other with the help of the International Community and stop making it as a political issue. Youve seen your report with zahir who said he would go back only if the dictator leaves. This is the problem what were doing with the humanitarian issue. Humanitarian issue is a humanitarian issue. We deal with as such, we dont have to take off a president before things can be better for people. Lets talk about it without mentioning that there is a loyalist and an opposite party, human issues are human issues, nevertheless, we like to have the obama, president Obama Administration look at the issue as a humanitarian and a political issue, allow the syrians to talk to each other. We dont have to interfere in peoples affair and make peace in there by stopping terrorism in there and everywhere else on earth. Gentlemen were going to continue this conversation in just a minute. Lets be clear, its not just people getting out of syria, people are trying to get out of libya eritrea sudan, not only in law but morally whats the difference between a syrian whose home town lives in rubble, a libyan who fears clan and faction fighting might kill him and an eritrean, who cant amake a living, whats my neighbor, on inside story. Nside story. Welcome back to inside story, im ray suarez. The people who paid smugglers, climbed into unsea worthy bode, trying to make it somewhere thats not syria, libya, eritrea, talk of wanting to work, wanting to know their children are not in constant danger. Theres a sizable tent city in the french port city of calais, a grab bag of people from all over the world, really, risking their lives to get into an england that doesnt want them. Gias muussa and jim hanson, executive director of the center for security policy. Jim hanson should the United States be open to taking in rchtion irefugees from the middt wars . In a very cautious way, of course, we are not scrutinizing these refugees, they are not getting screened to a level that theyre not bringing terrorism into the country. We are completely unable in the current state to be able to vet the Syrian Refugees and ensure that the bad guys are not infiltrating among them no way. What do you mean when you say bringing problems into the country . Terrorists, islamists, people who do not agree with our constitution, who do not believe that u. S. Law should be supreme. If you look at a lot of the recent migrant populations and refugees populations when theyre polled a lot of the ones from islamic countries would like sharea law to be have judge supreme. They tw would prefer their law o u. S. Law. That is a problem. I. S. I. S. Said they are trying to infiltrate as many jihadists to the europe and japan. We cant even find allies over there to train to fight i. S. I. S. Let alone determine that the people that are coming in have associations and what those are and whether or not those should be allowed in the country at all. You heard dr. Mussa in the last segment talk about wanting to make syria a place people want to go home to, not being refugees any longer. What about temporary respite, or is that naive, where we have to consider these people as potential future permanent residents . If you are going to do temporary then you are looking at turkey and jordan and lebanon where the bulk of the refugees are now. Its better to provide a higher level of services and instead of trying to repopulate the worlds refugees into the United States, leave them where they are and attack the root causes, assad, i. S. I. S, and those who are creatincreating the refugee pro, rather than move people out of syria because its an awful place to live now. Taking years to fix, refugees need help right now. I dont think its a problem that is hard to fix. I think if mr. Hansen stopped training people to fight, then there would be no problem in syria. Politicizing the issue is always a serious problem. We have a country that has a president everybody is happy with, they elected him as a president. Why are we sending people to fight that president . There would be no refugee. Im going to repeat again, in damascus now there are more than 2 million displaced syrians, the socalled assad regime is taking care of them. They have given them shelter, schools, salaries, we encourage people to move out, we tell them we give them money in germany and scandinavian countries and the United States so people are lured to stop a country. Stop terrorism, to say its a bad person in governance of that country is not going to solve anything. These are people electing their own president and because we dont like the president we train people and send to fight that regime, obviously we end one a problem. We dont want them as Syrian Americans, we dont want them to come here, we dont want to empty the country from their minorities. We encourage christians and yazidis to move out of the country. Obviously its not a stable situation, by allowing syrians to talk to each other thats the way the problem gets solved very fast. Let me respond. Is it easy to do, possible to do . I think mr. Hanson is quite wrong on this issue. We have a very sophisticated screening system, we have resettled 3 million refugees. As dr. Mussa said, prior to the crisis in syria syria used to host more than 2 million refugees from iraq and other places. So i think this fear mongering that mr. Hansen is talking is totally unfounded. We have, i will say this again and again, we have the most vetted people to come to this country our refugees. We have an incredible history of refugees. My agencies founded the 1911 is not a contractor. The federal government came to Refugee Program in 1980. Prior to that we actually resettled over 38,000 hungarians in 1956 without the government help. So this idea that the Catholic Charity uscri and other agents are Government Contractor and they care about, is totally bogus and i can tell you that the Refugee Program in this country is a Community Partnership program. Every refuging settled in this country is settled in a Community Supported by the community the government involvement in terms of their contribution to the Refugee Program is compared to what the community provides, probably 10 . Skinder nagash, dr. Mussa and jim hanson, this conversation must continue because this problem will continue. Ill be back in a moment with a final thought on leaving home. Stay with us. Its inside story. Side story. Hoping that lots of people will simply go home when there hoping that lots of people will simply go home when there are no longer homes to go back to is a vain hope. People will do we have seen what they need to do to get their families out of threatening conditions. Dead civilians, boarded shops, the people who want to eventually control syria to be ready to fight to the last syrian. What will it be that you control at the end of that war . Smashed power plants, pulverizee pipelines, the Syrian Civil War is a problem all right but now all these years in it is no longer a problem that will be even stopped by stopping the war but one that will only get more complicated if we expect people to some day leave the safety of a foreign refuge to go home to ruins. Hope youre ready for not only a much longer war but a really difficult peace. Im ray suarez and thats the inside story. Story. Earthquake felt in chile, five people are dead and a million have been evacuated. Hello im Darren Jordan will world news from al jazeera. Also ahead. The Hungarian Police face criticism as refugees are tear gassed on the border with serbia. Burkifaas