• • Speeding Up Syrian Refugee Applications Is 'A Threat to Our National Security'
• • Terrorism, Enclaves and Sanctuary Cities

The Obama administration's fast-tracking of Syrian refugee applications is "a threat to our national security," Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) said on Tuesday.

Collins was responding to reports that processing time for Syrian refugee applications has been cut to three months- down from the standard 18-24 months - as part of a "surge" aimed at reaching President Obama's target of admitting 10,000 in fiscal year 2016.

"Accelerating the timeline to admit and resettle refugees from countries that are hotbeds of terrorism is a threat to our national security," he said in a statement. "Despite serious risks, the Obama administration decided being politically correct is more important than the safety of the American people."

"Abruptly dropping the amount of time it will take to vet people raises serious concerns that there will be a less comprehensive process that will not screen out those seeking to take advantage of our system."

Collins said in the light of recent terrorist attacks in Brussels and elsewhere, the U.S. needs to be more cautious than ever.

"Now is not the time to make our vetting process less secure by rushing decisions."

With less than six months of FY 2016 to go, fewer than 14 percent of the 10,000 Syrian refugees have been admitted. Against that background, the State Department launched a three-month "surge" operation in Amman, Jordan on February 1, according to U.S. Ambassador Alice Wells.

Running through April 28, the program aims to achieve "President Obama's directive to send 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States by September 30, 2016, while also ensuring that every refugee accepted by the United States has been thoroughly screened and vetted through our rigorous security process," Wells told journalists last week.

Regional refugee coordinator Gina Kassem said officials in Amman were interviewing 600 applicants a day, and that the resettlement process has been reduced from the standard 18-24 months, to three months.

In response to queries about the significant time reduction, a State Department official rejected the notion that security screening would be compromised.

"All applicants will still be subject to the same stringent security and medical requirements that apply to all applicants for U.S. refugee resettlement," the official told CNSNews.com. "All other necessary procedures will remain unchanged."

"While this surge and other efforts will decrease the overall processing time for individual families, the average processing time worldwide remains 18-24 months," the official said. "As we said, neither this surge nor any of our efforts to expand processing capacity curtail any aspects of the security, medical, or other screening."

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL) terrorist attacks in Paris last November stoked fresh fears that terrorist groups would use refugee admissions programs to infiltrate members into Western countries.

Prosecutors said two of the Paris attackers had evidently entered Europe through Greece, posing as refugees fleeing from the Syrian conflict. The French government warned European partners that "some terrorists are trying to get into our countries and commit criminal acts by mixing in with the flow of migrants and refugees."

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper would later tell a Senate committee that ISIS is indeed "taking advantage of the torrent of migrants [entering Europe] to insert operatives into that flow."

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In the wake of the terror attacks in Belgium, news reports once again focused on how so-called "No Go Zones" in Europe create neighborhoods where communities develop that, although are geographically located within major cities, insulate themselves from their surroundings, fostering the mindset that cooperating with law enforcement is dangerous and even traitorous.

The residents eye law enforcement officers with great suspicion if not outright animosity. The situation is exacerbated because while they fear law enforcement, they may well also fear their neighbors who may take revenge against them for cooperating with law enforcement.

These neighborhoods become "cultural islands" that eschew the cultures and values of the cities and countries in which they grow -- a virtual malignancy that ultimately comes to threaten its host city and country because within this cocoon radical Islamists are shielded from law enforcement, find shelter and support and an ample supply of potential terror recruits.

These communities are inhabited by many Muslim refugees who cannot be effectively screened.

This makes assimilation by the residents of these isolated communities unlikely if not impossible and creates breeding grounds for crime and, in this era and under these circumstances- breeding grounds for terrorism.

While there are no actual "No Go Zones" in the United States, there are neighborhoods scattered around the United States, where the concentration of ethnic immigrant minorities is so great that police find themselves unable to make the sort of inroads that they should be able to make in order to effectively police these communities. Adding to the high density of these aliens in these communities is the issue of foreign languages often being the prevalent language in such "ghettos." This gives new meaning to the term "Language Barrier."

Back when I was an INS agent, we had an expression- "Big cases- big problems; Little cases- little problems; No cases- no problems!" That phrase applies to all law enforcement officers.

When police or other law enforcement officers are put into a classic "no win" situation, their commonsense solution is to make their own survival and well-being their priority by minimizing their contacts with such enclaves and taking the fewest actions possible within those communities.

Not unlike the "No Go Zones" of European countries, these communities in the Unites States also tend to shield foreign nationals who may be fugitives from justice both inside the United States and in other countries. Terrorists and their supporters are able to go about their daily lives- undetected by law enforcement agencies.

Implementation of sanctuary policies in such cities greatly exacerbates the threats posed to national security and public safety- turning those cities into magnets that attract still more radicals and fugitives and terrorists who need to "fly under the radar."

Any community that provides safe haven for illegal aliens willfully endangers the lives of it residents.

Even as concerns about increased threats of terror attacks are the topic of a succession of Congressional hearings, so-called "Sanctuary Cities" continue to flourish- with the tacit approval of the administration even though they are clearly operating in violation of federal law.

Consider these provisions of Title 8, U.S.C. 1324(a) Offenses:

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Young children going to school within Iraq's ISIS-controlled territories are being taught fighting and bomb-making techniques, according to a human rights group.

Giving children instructional lessons on how to create improvised explosive devices (IEDs) while also teaching from the Quran, ISIS has continuously aimed to brainwash children in hopes of spreading their jihadist ideology.

Fear of airstrikes on or around schools which ISIS uses as operating bases together with this new Islamic State curriculum, has resulted in both schools closing and parents keeping their children out of class, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Tuesday, which included statements from parents who have fled these areas in Iraq.

ISIS has also been challenged to find certified teachers, as most educated professionals have fled the region.

In rural areas, girls over the age of 12 have been barred from attending schools altogether, but in the northern Iraqi city of Atshana, those who wear a niqab can go to class.

"The UN Security Council has called on all parties to armed conflict to refrain from actions that impede children's access to education," the report said.

Other atrocities chronicled in the report include exploitation and repeated raping of girls used as sex slaves by ISIS and the persecution of Yazidi women who were "raped and traded between members" before fleeing

Reuters reported that the Iraqi army was able to fully recapture the city of Hit from the Islamic State (IS). The Iraqi army, backed by U.S. airstrikes, was able to dislodge the IS fighters from the city several days ago as many abandoned their families to avoid being killed or captured.

Hit is located roughly 85 miles West of Baghdad on the Euphrates river, and provided a link between IS fighters in Iraq and Syria. By reclaiming the city, the Iraqi forces are pushing IS towards the Syrian border away from Mosul, as well as cutting IS supply lines.

Hit was defended by up to 300 IS fighters who had established substantial fortifications. While the Iraqi army has reclaimed the city, it may take weeks to clear the entire city of explosives.

Just a few weeks ago the Iraqi army announced it planned to launch an offensive to retake the IS stronghold of Mosul. Before launching an assault on the city, the Iraqi and U.S. forces planned to retake smaller strongholds around Mosul to weaken and isolate IS defenders. The recapture of Hit falls under this plan, and it will hopefully damage IS's ability to move troops and supplies.

Earlier this week the Iraqi army called a pause to further operations until federal police and local tribesmen arrived to defend recaptured areas. Major General Najm Abdullah al-Jubbouri stated, "We do not want to use all our units to hold territory." The Iraqi army realized it will need all its soldiers on the front lines in order to retake Mosul and other areas, so it is up to the police and tribesmen to make sure the recaptured areas are protected.