Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/604488
ByEricaWerner The Associated Press WASHINGTON Respond- ing swiftly to the terror in Paris, the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly Thurs- day to erect high hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refu- gees coming to American shores, dividing the pres- ident's own party as law- makers reflected the anxi- ety of voters back home. The vote was 289- 137, enough to over- ride a threatened White House veto of the legisla- tion, which was hurriedly drafted in response to the carnage in the streets of Paris. Forty-seven Dem- ocrats voted for the bill, despite President Barack Obama's biting criticism of its proposed limits. The bill would require new FBI background checks and individual sign- offs from three high-rank- ing U.S. officials before any refugee could come to the U.S. from Iraq or Syria, where the Islamic State group that has claimed credit for the attacks has flourished. Republicans said it was simply prudent to place new controls on the refugee sys- tem, without ending it en- tirely or requiring religious tests as some in the GOP, in- cluding presidential candi- dates, have demanded. "This is an urgent matter and that is why we're deal- ing with this urgently," de- clared new House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. "It just is common sense that we pause, re-evaluate and make sure that we have the proper standards in place to make sure something like what happened in Paris doesn't happen here." The strong vote in the House could improve pros- pects for the bill in the Sen- ate. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republi- can, said he would like to see the chamber take up the House legislation as-is, but that is uncertain. Senate Democrats are trying to shift the focus to other issues regarding trav- elers from overseas, and Mi- nority Leader Harry Reid predicted Thursday's bill would not be approved. "Don't worry, it won't get passed. OK? So, next ques- tion," he said. Traveling in Asia this week, Obama mocked Con- gress and Republicans for yielding to "hysteria" and taking aim at "widows and orphans." The White House threatened a presidential veto, contending the leg- islation would bring to an end an already highly reg- ulated refugee program while doing nothing to en- hance national security. And some Democrats com- plained that the measure would mar America's im- age as a welcoming haven for immigrants. "We might as well take down the Statue of Liberty," Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York asserted in debate on the House floor. Yet some Democrats chafed at the White House position. Dozens joined Re- publicans in supporting the legislation, some fretting openly of being put in the politically untenable posi- tion of opposing what they considered a reasonable anti-terror bill in the wake of a horrendous tragedy. Freshman Rep. Brad Ashford, D-Neb., who faces a tough re-election fight next year, called the Paris attacks "a game changer" and supported the bill, say- ing, "I cannot sit back and ignore the concerns of my constituents and the Amer- ican public." The House bill would increase the FBI's role by charging it with conducting a "thorough background in- vestigation" on each refu- gee. The Homeland Secu- rity secretary would subse- quently have to certify, with the concurrence of the FBI director and the director of national intelligence, that the refugee posed no se- curity concerns. Under the current system the Home- land Security secretary has the final say, though mul- tiple other agencies are in- volved. WASHINGTON, D.C. HousevotestocurbSyrianrefugees,snubsvetothreat By Jeff Karoub and Sophia Tareen The Associated Press DETROIT Over and over, Nedal Al-Hayk and his wife traveled up to three hours by bus from their temporary home in Jor- dan to an office where U.S. Homeland Security officials put them in sep- arate rooms and asked them many questions in many different ways: Where were you born? Where were your parents born? Were you part of a rebel group? Were you po- litically outspoken? Finally, nearly three years after the Syrian cou- ple fled their war-ravaged homeland, they and their two young children ar- rived in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, ready to start a promising new life in a new country. "I came here to succeed and have a quality of life, not to be a hindrance to the government and the citizens of America," said the 28-year-old Al-Hayk, who is working at a factory and studying English with hopes of pursuing the agri- cultural engineering degree he started in Syria. "Even if I need to start over, I'll start over." As some governors, law- makers and presidential candidates vow to block the resettlement of more Syrian refugees in the U.S. for fear that terrorists will slip into the country and carry out Paris-style attacks, those who have made it here de- scribe an arduous screen- ing process that they would not have undergone if they didn't want to make Amer- ica their permanent home. "They are human beings and human beings with no home," said Al-Hayk, who arrived in the U.S. seven months ago. "They ache to come to a country like America because they know the kinds of opportunities it grants to people." The Obama administra- tion, which has announced plans to accept about 10,000 Syrians refugees in addi- tion to the 2,500 who have settled here since 2011, dis- closed new details this week about how they are inves- tigated. They must undergo a screening process that can take nearly three years, during which they are fin- gerprinted and required to submit other biomet- ric information, subjected to criminal and terrorist background checks and put through repeated rounds of questioning about their families, friends and polit- ical activities, authorities said. The process takes so long that experts said it would be unlikely for an extrem- ist group to rely on a refu- gee program to sneak some- one into the U.S. Terrorist organizations could instead send operatives to America as students or tourists or appeal to people already living in the U.S. to carry out attacks. HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIALS Syrian refugees are put through years of screening PAULSANCYA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Syrian refugee Nedal Al-Hayk listens during an interview in Warren, Michigan. By Deb Riechmann The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Paris attacks have given new im- petus to a bipartisan push to approve new war pow- ers to fight Islamic State militants, with Democratic presidential candidate Hill- ary Clinton on Thursday joining Republican and Democratic lawmakers in calling for what would be the first war vote in Con- gress in 13 years. It's unclear whether the push will be fruitful, as many lawmakers remain reluctant to vote on leg- islation giving President Barack Obama new au- thority to fight IS. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says the White House al- ready has the legal autho- rization it needs to combat the extremists. To fight IS, Obama has been relying on congressio- nal authorizations given to President George W. Bush for the war on al-Qaida and the invasion of Iraq. Critics say the White House's use of post-9/11 congressional authorizations is a legal stretch at best. And they note that the battle has grown exponentially. In a speech in New York, Clinton urged Congress to pass an updated authori- zation to use military force against the militants. "Congress should swiftly pass an updated authoriza- tion to use military force," Clinton said. "That will send a message to friend and foe alike that the United States is commit- ted to this fight. The time for delay is over. We should get this done." At the same time, Clinton said she was not in favor of having tens of thousands of American combat troops in the Middle East. On Wednesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is running for the GOP presidential nomina- tion, said he plans to intro- duce, after the Thanksgiv- ing recess, a new Authoriza- tion for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, against IS militants responsible for last week's bombings that killed 129 in Paris. Graham's legislation would not put any time or geographic restraints on the U.S. military or intelligence services' battle against IS, authorizing the U.S. to take the fight anywhere for as long as necessary. The bill would allow the deploy- ment of U.S. ground troops to fight IS. It also would not restrict the United States in working to disrupt the mil- itants' recruiting efforts, propaganda and communi- cations. ISLAMIC STATE Bipartisan push for war powers a er Paris attacks JOHN RAOUX — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. speaks in Orlando, Fla. By Rick Callahan The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS Former Subway pitchman Jared Fo- gle was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison on Thursday for trading in child pornography and having sex with underage prostitutes, with the judge describing his "perversion and lawlessness" as "ex- treme." Judge Tanya Walton Pratt disregarded prosecu- tors' recommendation that Fogle get 12½ years behind bars, opting for a stiffer term of 15 years and eight months in prison. She could have sentenced him to up to 50 years. In explaining her sen- tence, the federal judge noted how fortunate Fo- gle was to land his lucra- tive deal to be the face of Subway after he lost more than 200 pounds in college, partly by eating the chain's sandwiches. "What a gift, to have such a professional windfall fall in your lap," she said. But Pratt said Fogle blew the chance he'd been given by living a double life and pointed out that the crimes he committed weren't vic- timless. "The level of perver- sion and lawlessness ex- hibited by Mr. Fogle is ex- treme," Pratt said, who also ordered Fogle to sub- mit to a lifetime of post- prison supervision and pay a $175,000 fine. She recom- mended that Fogle receive sex offender treatment in prison and said she'll rec- ommend he serve his time at a federal lockup in Lit- tleton, Colorado, that spe- cializes in such treatment. Fogle didn't show any vis- ible reaction when he heard his sentence, but some fam- ily members who were in the courtroom began cry- ing and hugging each other after judge ordered Fogle taken into custody. Before he was sentenced, the 38-year-old father of two addressed the court, apologizing to his victims and his family and vowing to be a better person. "I so regret that I let so many of you down," he told the court. "I want to redeem my life. I want to become a good, decent person. I want to rebuild my life," he said. Fogle pleaded guilty to one count each of travel- ling to engage in illicit sex- ual conduct with a minor and distribution and receipt of child pornography, as per a deal he struck with pros- ecutors in August, a month after his suburban India- napolis home was raided. FORMER SUBWAY PITCHMAN Fogle gets more than 15 years in prison CLARENCE TABB JR. — DETROIT NEWS VIA AP Former Inkster Police officer William Melendez looks at the jurors as they are polled a er reaching a verdict in his trial at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit, on Thursday. The Associated Press DETROIT A white, former Detroit-area police officer was found guilty Thursday of assault and misconduct in the bloody beating of a black driver during a traf- fic stop that was captured on video. Wayne County jurors handed down the verdict in the case against Wil- liam Melendez, who was charged in the January beating of Floyd Dent. Po- lice stopped Dent, 58, in the Detroit suburb of Ink- ster for disregarding a stop sign, and dashcam video from a police vehicle shows Melendez punching him 16 times in the head. It wasn't until after WDIV-TV aired the foot- age in March that Melen- dez was fired. Inkster later agreed to pay $1.4 mil- lion to Dent, who suffered broken ribs, blood on his brain and other injuries. The jurors found Melen- dez guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and of misconduct in office. They cleared him of a charge of assault by strangulation. The packed courtroom was largely quiet after the verdict was read, follow- ing Judge Vonda Evans' orders to neither "cry out" nor "applaud" out of re- spect for the jury. Melen- dez's wife rushed out of the courtroom, invoking Ev- ans' ire and a demand that she return and "sit down." Evans ordered Melendez to jail pending his Dec. 3 sentencing. Beforehand, defense attorney James Thomas argued that Me- lendez "is not a danger to the community" and posed "no risk of flight." Thomas told report- ers after the verdict that despite his disappoint- ment, Melendez "remains upbeat" and "resolved." Thomas said he plans to appeal the verdict after sentencing. Melendez did not testify during the eight-day trial, but his attorney said the officer was justified in the assault because Dent was aggressive and resisting police. Other officers and a criminal justice professor testified that the beating was reasonable because Dent was resisting arrest. But Vicki Yost, who was chief of police at the time of the beating, said Melen- dez's actions were unnec- essary, based on the video. Dent has a long history of driving violations and was driving with a sus- pended license, accord- ing to evidence the de- fense presented at trial. Charges against Dent, in- cluding resisting arrest and possession of drugs, were dropped. Dent said police planted drugs in his car. Thomas told jurors that a urine test taken at the hospital suggested Dent had been using cocaine be- fore the traffic stop. Detroit-area former officer found guilty in videotaped beating TRAFFIC STOP FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B