Syrians Ripe for Plucking by ISIS

President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have opened their arms to tens of thousands of new Syrian refugees, but it is terrorist recruiters who may be the ones giving the new arrivals the real embrace.

Obama and Kerry have sold the decision to accept some 45,000 Syrian refugees over the next two years as not just an act of goodwill, but a noble obligation to the rest of the world.

Yet despite assurances that the United States is a “nation of immigrants,” what the administration has neglected to mention is that America’s recent track record of integrating refugees into society has been suspect, leading to frustration among recent emigrates.

Related: Refugees: Intentions Unknown

Even as the U.S. has become the world’s largest destination for refugees, it has been criticized for failing to adequately assimilate them into local communities — helping them find jobs, enroll in schools, obtain social services, and so forth. With Muslims, this scenario may be perilous because it can lead to frustration and unrest among the population — potentially making them ripe for jihadi recruiters.

A recent Washington Post article explored how Syrian refugees who had been resettled to the U.S. were largely unhappy with their new living arrangements. Several of those interviewed longed to return to their country and urged their compatriots to stay closer to home.

But the Post failed to connect the dots and ask an important question: If we know refugees are not assimilating well in the U.S. and are not particularly enjoying their experience here, is it a good idea to accept tens of thousands of them with open arms?

ISIS recruiters are running rampant in the U.S. looking to round up frustrated Muslims.

ISIS recruiters are running rampant in America looking to round up frustrated Muslims on the verge of radicalization who can be easily recruited to join the caliphate in the Middle East, engage in lone wolf attacks at home, or worse.

FBI Director James Comey said earlier that Islamic State recruiting efforts in the U.S are widespread across all 50 states and were occurring virtually 24 hours a day. While he assured that law enforcement was doing everything possible to monitor relevant social media and Internet chatrooms, such measures are inevitably akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.

It is not difficult to envision a portion of these refugees — and it only need be a small number — becoming easy fodder for ISIS should they become disgruntled.

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Of the 58 Americans who have so far either joined or attempted to join a jihadi group, 15 of them have come from Minnesota. The Minneapolis-metro area has the world’s largest Somali population outside of Somalia but has experienced major headaches assimilating them into the community and preventing them from being preyed upon by ISIS.

Yet Minnesota is not the only area experiencing similar problems, especially as federal funding for integration programs has not kept pace with the growing intake of refugees.

In a report this summer, the Migration Policy Institute concluded that “the increasing diversity of large U.S. refugee populations may be making it more challenging for both resettlement agencies and local communities to meet refugees’ needs.”

The report added that “the minimal level of support for employment, education, and language services provided through the resettlement program may be insufficient to meet the greater needs of these groups.”

Even advocates of accepting more refugees are not confident that prospective entrants can be properly vetted.

Even advocates of accepting more refugees are not confident that prospective entrants can be properly vetted, meaning that radicalized individuals could potentially waltz into the U.S. without any serious questions being asked.

The process for vetting refugees has been tasked to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees and Resettlement, but U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson has acknowledged that fully understanding who these individuals are, and pruning out the bad apples will be difficult, if not outright impossible.

Related: Will Refugees Bring Terror?

At a recent congressional hearing, FBI Director Comey said there were “certain gaps” in the vetting process. It may not be a stretch to interpret that phrase to mean, “gaping holes.”

If anything can be drawn from the ongoing migration crisis in Europe, it is that ISIS is not particular in its tactics to recruit and radicalize.

Reports of ISIS recruiters meeting incoming refugees at train stations in Germany and elsewhere in Europe show that they are more than willing to target vulnerable populations. The evidence appears to indicate that allowing more refugees from the Middle East into the U.S. would only serve to make their job easier.