Extreme Vetting Policies Going Into Effect at Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that President Donald Trump’s extreme vetting is being implemented piece by piece in accordance with one of the president’s first executive orders.

The next stage is a policy that will require more immigrants to participate in one-on-one interviews before they can achieve a legal visitation status from U.S. officials. Thanks to Trump’s Middle Eastern travel ban, in effect now because of a Supreme Court ruling, DHS officials have the space they need to enact these policies that will keep Islamic extremism from easily gaining a foothold in our country.

Two categories of people will be required to submit to face-to-face interviews starting on the first day of October: People already in the U.S. on business visas who want to extend their application to permanent residency and refugees who want to bring family members from abroad to join them in the U.S.

As the entire country saw in the case of the San Bernardino terrorists, the federal government was clearly not getting enough vital information about those migrants coming from some of the most dangerous countries in the world. The woman in that case, Tashfeen Malik, had written several anti-American, pro-Islamist statements on social media that went unnoticed by government officials. By requiring interviews in this way, Homeland Security officials will be able to collect more information about the people seeking permanent residency and reduce the chances that a terrorist can slip through the cracks.

“This change reflects the Administration’s commitment to upholding and strengthening the integrity of our nation’s immigration system,” said acting USCIS Director James W. McCament. “USCIS and our federal partners are working collaboratively to develop more robust screening and vetting procedures for individuals seeking immigration benefits to reside in the United States.”

The twin problems of illegal immigration and Islamic terrorism were, together, largely responsible for vaulting Donald Trump to the top of the Republican pack in 2016. They may even be responsible for making him president, seeing as how the Democrats are stunningly weak on both issues. That said, it’s good to know that the president is focused on making his campaign agenda a reality. No other security threat to our country is as serious as the one posed by Islamic extremism, a fact the previous administration refused to acknowledge. With “extreme vetting,” Trump is making this country a safer place, and that’s exactly what he was elected to do.