Obama's DHS scolds Americans for not welcoming Syrians

President Obama and DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson (WhiteHouse.gov)

The Department of Homeland Security has a simple job – to protect Americans from terrorism and disasters. But since President Obama appointed Jeh Johnson to lead the newest executive department, DHS has taken on a new responsibility – scolding Americans for not wanting enough Muslim refugees.

The Department of Homeland Security sparked an Internet firestorm when its official Twitter account lectured “taking in refugees at times of crisis is the right thing to do” because “this is the United States of America.” Many Americans wondered why a bureaucracy ostensibly designed to safeguard national security is being used for virtue signaling. And one of the most prominent critics is an agent who was a member of the agency at its founding.

This is the United States of America. Taking in refugees at times of crisis is the right thing to do. #RefugeesWelcome

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 29, 2016

Philip Haney, a veteran counter-terrorism analyst and former Customs and Border Protection officer, was assigned to the Advanced Targeting Team at the National Targeting Center. He saw first hand how the Obama administration halted investigations into Islamic extremism because of political correctness, a story he tells in his book “See Something, Say Nothing,” co-authored with WND News Editor Art Moore.

“When DHS was founded on March 1, 2003, the new agency's mandate was a simple 24-word statement, that it was 'dedicated to preventing terrorist attacks within the United States, reducing America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimizing the damage from potential attacks and natural disasters,'” Haney recalled.

"While it is true that taking in refugees at times of crisis can be a noble thing to do, it should never be done at the expense of national security," he said.

Haney noted that less than a year ago, FBI Director James Comey warned the House Committee on Homeland Security that the federal government does not have the ability to conduct thorough background checks on all of the 10,000 Syrian refugees that the Obama administration plannerd to allow into the U.S.

DHS recently bragged on its Twitter feed about meeting Obama’s commitment to resettle 10,000 Syrians in the United States.

The program has been controversial, not just because of the security risks and financial costs, but because local officials are sometimes not even informed when Syrians are resettled in their communities.

Haney said the danger of admitting unvetted refugees from nations plagued by Islamic terrorism is real.

“If just 1 percent of the 10,000 refugees that have now been admitted were improperly vetted, we're still talking about 100 individuals who may have potential links to terrorism,” he said. “If we also look at a report by the U.S. Southern Command, I’d note this number is in addition to the ‘30,000 individuals who crossed the border in 2015 who were from countries of terrorist concern.’”

Has our own government already surrendered to Islamic jihad? A national security insider uncovers the terrible truth. Philip Haney's "See Something, Say Nothing" is available now from the WND Superstore.

Haney sees a common thread in the current conduct of DHS and the way his superiors shut down investigations of Islamic terrorism during his time at the agency.

“As early as 2009, DHS began scrubbing information from our law enforcement database and from our training courses,” Haney recalled. “All of this was because of concern about violating ‘the civil rights and civil liberties’ of individuals affiliated with Muslim groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Tablighi Jamaat.

"I see a definite correlation between the way DHS dismisses the concerns of American citizens, while it makes immigration of Muslims from very high-risk areas of the world a major priority.”

Another person who feels a deep personal stake in the conduct of the Department of Homeland Security is Pamela Geller. The internationally renowned anti-jihad activist and author of “Stop the Islamization of America” was personally targeted by terrorists in a plot broken up by the FBI only last month. Geller was scathing in her response to the Department of Homeland Security’s current conduct.

“DHS should change its name to DHI, the Department of Homeland Insecurity, because when they act like this, they're betraying their own mission,” she fumed. “They are denigrating concern for homeland security in the interests of an agenda that directly threatens Americans.”

Geller said it is obvious there will be terrorists among the thousands of refugees the United States is admitting.

“There is no way to vet for them, both because they are told to hide the things that U.S. officials would watch for, and because the Obama administration doesn't even admit there is a jihad,” she contended. “How can it vet for jihadis? The DHS is simply acting in the service of Obama's globalist, internationalist agenda and betraying its stated mission.”

Haney argued the Department of Homeland Security under Obama and Johnson essentially has abandoned its mandate.

“DHS has moved a long way away from its original founding mandate, which was to use fact-based law enforcement policies and procedures to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of Americans, and to prevent terrorist attacks within our borders,” he said.

“Now, it seems that DHS has become the Obama administration's main agency to implement and enforce an immigration policy that puts all U.S. citizens at greater risk than at any previous time in our history.”

And Geller predicted dire consequences as a result.

“Catastrophe,” she responded flatly when asked what to expect. “Many, many more jihad attacks in American cities. Many more Americans dead.”