ICC Note: As the public and politicians debate what to do about Syrian refugees, it is important to actually look at the process involved in the issue. The system for legally resettling refugees is complex and often stacked against Christians. The system to legally – and safely – process refugees needs to be addressed, along with dealing with those who come outside of the system that is unable to handle the flow.

11/17/2015 Middle East (Spectator) – As the nation argues about whether or not to accept Syrian refugees – especially now that it appears at least two of the Paris attackers used forged passports to re-enter Europe, using the migrant crisis as a Trojan Horse – some details about who we’ve already accepted seem to show a “refugee system” that’s hopelessly stacked against those who need refuge the most: Arab Christians.

According to a recent count, the US has accepted around two thousand Muslim refugees from Syria but only 53 Syrian Christians, even though Christians seem to be faring the worst against ISIS across the Arab penninsula. The bias seems to be a product of the process itself, being handled by the United Nations, who haven’t taken the continued safety of Arab Christians into account as they amass Syrian refugees in processing camps.

President Obama said Monday that calls from some quarters for the U.S. to admit only Christian refugees from Syria were “shameful,” yet the reality is that today’s refugee system discriminates, not against Syrian Muslims, but against Christians and other non-Muslim minorities.

Critics say this is because the federal government relies on the United Nations in the refugee application process – and since Syrian Christians are often afraid to register with the U.N., they and other non-Muslims are left out.

Fleeing persecution at the hands of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other jihadist groups, Syrian Christians generally avoid U.N. refugee camps because they are targeted there too.

Most refugees considered for resettlement in the U.S. are referred by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Refugees who are referred to the US State Department through the UN are then processed through a State Department post somewhere in the world, vetted by DHS and then allowed to proceed to the US, a system that takes about 18 months to navigate.

…