In a concurring opinion in a case relating to immigration policy, Judge Daniel Manion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit expressed his “concern about the apparent lack of Syrian Christians as a part of immigrants from that country.” “It is well documented that refugees to the United States are not representative of that war-torn area of the world,” Manion wrote. “Perhaps 10 percent of the population of Syria is Christian, and yet less than onehalf of one percent of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States this year are Christian.” “Recognizing the crisis in Syria, the President in 2015 set a goal of resettling 10,000 refugees in the United States [in FY 2016],” he continued. “And in August the government reached this laudable goal. And yet, of the nearly 11,000 refugees admitted by mid-September, only 56 were Christian.” “To date, there has not been a good explanation for this perplexing discrepancy.”
(In fact, by mid-September there were already well over 11,000 Syrian refugee admissions since the start of the fiscal year – and fewer than 0.5 were Christians.) Manion said that having good data available is critical to public debate about immigration policy. State officials wanting to keep their citizens safe were expected to provide a high level of evidence to back their positions, he said – but were then prevented from obtaining the evidence.
He said one possible reason for the small number of Christians among the Syrian refugees is the worry that they may have troubling affiliations. For example, concern that a Christian applicant may be affiliated with a militia may lead to his being denied entry. But because data isn’t being made available, it is impossible to know whether such concerns lie behind the small number of Christians among the admitted Syrian refugees. Manion was critical of Congress consciously limiting what government information is available to the public (through statutory exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act), and pointed out that it was empowered to amend sunshine or immigration laws. “Until that time, however, many of us remain in the dark as a humanitarian catastrophe continues.”
Terror affiliations