Inside the Beltway: Muslim arrivals to U.S. at highest number since 2002

NEWS AND OPINION:

“Nearly half of refugees entering the U.S. this year are Muslim,” reports Pew Research Center analyst Phillip Connor, who based his findings on data from the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center.

“The U.S. has received 28,957 Muslim refugees so far in fiscal year 2016, or nearly half (46 percent) of the more than 63,000 refugees who have entered the country since the fiscal year began Oct. 1, 2015. That means that already this year the U.S. has admitted the highest number of Muslim refugees of any year since 2002.”

The new arrivals hail primarily from Syria and Somalia; the two nations account for half of the refugees so far. The rest are from Iraq, Myanmar and Afghanistan, Mr. Connor noted.

A $1.5 MILLION TICKET OUT

President Obama hopes to make good on his vow to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba by the time he leaves office. The White House has just authorized the release of another 15 detainees, with another 61 still left in the facility. Republicans are not impressed.

“The Obama administration’s decision to facilitate its largest transfer of detainees is about one thing only — garnishing the legacy of an outgoing president,” says Sen. James M. Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who recommends that if the president is “unashamedly” working to close the facility, he should share the justification for each and every detainee release with the public.

Sen. Tim Scott is also questioning the decision.

“In his relentless effort to meet a campaign promise, the president has potentially enabled dangerous and high-risk individuals to return to the fight against the U.S. and our allies in our battle against terrorism. This comes after a senior Defense Department official confirmed Americans have died at the hands of Guantanamo detainees following their release,” says the South Carolina Republican.

“The only way to prevent these bad actors from rejoining terrorist organizations is for the U.S. to maintain oversight on their containment at Guantanamo. Not to mention, the most recent detainee transfer program has cost us approximately $1.5 million of taxpayer money, yet there is no agreement the nation receiving the prisoners will monitor their activity,” adds Mr. Scott.

DESPITE OUTCRY, TRUMP GETS INTELLIGENCE FACTS

On Wednesday Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton campaigns in Ohio. Running mate Sen. Tim Kaine will be in Iowa, while GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence heads for New Mexico. And presidential nominee Donald Trump? Multiple press reports reveal he’ll be in New York City to receive a general intelligence briefing from Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper. This type of briefing has been standard protocol for presidential candidates since 1952.

But drama lurks. Rep. David N. Cicilline, Rhode Island Democrat, advised President Obama to withhold classified material from Mr. Trump in the wake of the candidate’s recent sarcastic suggestion that Russian intelligence might find Mrs. Clinton’s 30,000 missing emails from her time as secretary of state.

“The Republican nominee’s call for hostile foreign action represents a step beyond mere partisan politics and represents a threat to the republic itself. It suggests that he is unfit to receive sensitive intelligence, and may willingly compromise our national security if he is permitted to do so,” Mr. Cicilline wrote in a formal letter to the president three weeks ago.

A hostile press has also revisited both the comment and the lawmaker’s suggestion many times, also citing reports that Russian intelligence had hacked the Democratic National Committee’s email system. It is a media-made quagmire. But here is the reality: Mr. Trump will have his briefing, and that’s that. Move on, everyone. Nothing to see here.

FOR THE LEXICON

“The Queenmakers”

— Handy term coined by Newsweek political correspondent Nina Burleigh for Hillary Clinton’s dedicated “inner circle” and “old girl network” of donors, strategists, advisers, pollsters and other supportive females.

“If they were men, they might be called kingmakers. Reporters would have encountered them in hotel lobby bars, tossing back scotch as they tried to spin the media. But these queenmakers drink herbal tea (and the occasional martini) and pepper their talk with New Age-isms like ’our journey’ and ’the goddess of light,’” writes Ms. Burleigh.

JILL’S MOMENT

Broadcast of note for Wednesday: CNN hosts a live town hall meeting with Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein and her running mate, Ajamu Baraka, to air at 9 p.m. EST. Her enthusiastic fans have organized 120 watch parties around the nation.

“Stein has consistently polled as the fourth-most-popular option in the presidential race, after Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Libertarian Gary Johnson. In the most recent CNN/ORC poll, Stein received 5 percent support nationwide, four points behind Johnson, her nearest competitor,” CNN noted.

Ms. Stein is intent of reaching out to voters who once clamored for Sen. Bernard Sanders. But she is no fan of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and pesky questions about those State Department emails.

“I think there should have been a full investigation. I think the American people are owed an explanation for what happened, and why top-secret information was put at risk, why the identity of secret agents were potentially put at risk,” Ms. Stein told CNN’s Carol Costello. “There is much more that is coming to public attention about Hillary Clinton’s behavior, including the recent revelations about favors bestowed on the Clinton Foundation’s donors who got special deals, who got state partnerships.”

POLL DU JOUR

• 22 percent of Americans have been “bullied, harassed or threatened” online.

• 63 percent of this group say the harassment took place on Facebook.

• 34 percent of Asians, 34 percent of Hispanics, 22 percent of blacks and 19 percent of whites report harassment.

• 20 percent of Republicans, 24 percent of independents and 29 percent of Democrats report harassment.

• 55 percent of those who reported online harassment were women and 44 percent were men.

Source: A CraigConnects/Lincoln Park Strategies survey of 1,017 U.S. adults conducted through March and released Aug. 14.

• Simple truths, complex theories to jharper@washingtontimes.com