{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://noem.house.gov/index.cfm/in-the-news?ContentRecord_id=1276AE5F-E667-4BDB-BCE4-A0C340749BAD", "Noem: \"We can't adequately vet these individuals\"", "2015-11-18", "2015", "2015-11", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Kristi Noem", "N000184", "noem.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Argus Leader \r\n\tA South Dakota Congresswoman says the UnitedStatesshouldn't welcome anyrefugees from Iraq and Syria until federal agencies can ensure screening systems protect againstpotential links to terrorist organizations in those countries.\r\nU.S. Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., on a media call Wednesday said she plans to support a House bill Thursday that will stop federalprograms that allowrefugees from those countries to resettle inthe United States until the FBI director and the Department of Homeland Security can ensure that the vetting process is secure.\r\nAfter reviewing the processes Tuesday, Noem said the United Statesshouldn'trisk admitting refugees from the war-torn countries.\r\n\"We feel as though we can't adequately vet these individuals,\" Noem said.\r\nShe said the screeningsystem was appropriate for asylum seekers fleeing other countries with more stable governments.\r\nRepublicanshave called on the Obama administration this week to suspend acceptance of refugees from Syria and Iraq after investigators said one of the culprits in a series of deadly Paris attacks might have been a Syrian refugee.\r\nInvestigators have since said the attackers identified so far are European citizens.\r\nWhen asked whether the United States should bar entry to Europeans, Noem said intelligence officials who briefed her on the attacks said that was unnecessary.\r\n\"They have assured us that that's not an actionthat needs to be addressed,\" Noem said.\r\nTheObama administrationhas said it plans to increase thenumber of refugees the U.S.will acceptto 100,000 by 2017, which human rights advocates say isinadequate to address the depths of the crisis. The U.S. accepted at least 130,000South Vietnameserefugees in the months after the fall of Saigon in 1975.\r\nAs of September, the United States has accepted 1,854 Syrian refugees.\r\nAccording to the United Nations, the civil war in Syria has killed 250,000 people since it began in 2011,and more than 4 million refugees have fled to other countries to escape the violence.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://noem.house.gov/index.cfm/in-the-news?ContentRecord_id=1276AE5F-E667-4BDB-BCE4-A0C340749BAD"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6851420514285564, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}