PRINTER'S NO. 2577
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
601
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY HEFFLEY, METCALFE, COX, QUIGLEY, VEREB, MACKENZIE,
STEPHENS, HICKERNELL, KRIEGER, WARD, HAHN, DIAMOND, WHEELAND,
BAKER, REGAN, EMRICK, MARSHALL, REESE, ENGLISH, MILLARD,
PHILLIPS-HILL, DAY, READSHAW, KAUFFMAN, HARPER, BARRAR,
FARRY, R. BROWN, WARNER, RAPP, MARSICO, A. HARRIS, SANKEY,
ELLIS, SAYLOR, SCHLEGEL CULVER, GINGRICH, TALLMAN, KNOWLES,
ZIMMERMAN AND REED, NOVEMBER 30, 2015
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, NOVEMBER 30, 2015
A RESOLUTION
Urging the Congress of United States to reconsider the
resettlement of Syrian refugees in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania until such time as systems are in place to
thoroughly conduct security and background checks on Syrian
refugees and to send a report detailing the increased
measures to the states that are under consideration to
receive Syrian refugees.
WHEREAS, In order to address the migrant crisis in Syria, the
Federal Government has indicated that the United States will
accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees during fiscal year 2016;
and
WHEREAS, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has an abundant and
successful history of embracing immigrants; and
WHEREAS, The most important responsibility of government is
to protect the safety and security of the residents of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, On November 13, 2015, coordinated terror attacks
were carried out in Paris, France, killing at least 129 people
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
and injuring more than 350 people; and
WHEREAS, On November 14, 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS), a
deadly terrorist organization based in Raqqa, Syria, claimed
responsibility for the attacks and pledged further attacks
worldwide; and
WHEREAS, According to French police, a Syrian passport
belonging to a Syrian asylum seeker who entered Europe through
Greece was found near the body of one suicide bomber; and
WHEREAS, This raises concerns that the security vetting
procedures used in addressing the Syrian migrant crisis are
inadequate; and
WHEREAS, On February 11, 2015, Francis X. Taylor, Under
Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis for the United States
Department of Homeland Security, stated, "We are concerned about
any group of people coming to the United States who may be
coming to the United States for nefarious purposes"; and
WHEREAS, Under Secretary Taylor further testified that
officials "want to make sure that if we are asked to vet
individuals from any part of the world to come to the United
States, that we have applied the most rigorous screening that's
available within the U.S. government"; and
WHEREAS, On February 11, 2015, Nicholas J. Rasmussen,
Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, testified in
front of the United States House of Representatives' Committee
on Homeland Security that Syrian refugees are:
clearly a population of concern and, as Under Secretary
Taylor said, what we want to be able to do is apply the
full weight of U.S. intelligence community holdings to
the vetting and screening process so that we can unearth
any information that we may have in our holdings that
gives us concern about particular individuals;
and
20150HR0601PN2577 - 2 -
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
WHEREAS, On February 11, 2015, Michael B. Steinbach,
Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division, Federal Bureau of
Investigation, testified in front of the United States House of
Representatives' Committee on Homeland Security that:
You have to have information to vet, so the concern in
Syria is that we don't have systems in place on the
ground to collect the information to vet. That would be
the concern we would be vetting--databases don't hold the
information on those individuals, and that is the
concern;
and
WHEREAS, Increased security measures are necessary following
the recent terror attacks in order to protect the security,
safety and basic freedoms of the residents of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the Congress of the United
States to reconsider the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania until such time as systems are in
place to thoroughly conduct security and background checks on
Syrian refugees and to send a report detailing the increased
measures to the states that are under consideration to receive
Syrian refugees; and be it further
RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to
the presiding officers of each house of Congress and to each
member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
20150HR0601PN2577 - 3 -
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26