Federal authorities have arrested two apparently unconnected Middle Eastern men who are here as refugees – one in Sacramento, and one in Houston – for having ties to ISIS. Both were Palestinians who were born in Iraq who were living in the United States. Thankfully, several material misstatements were found during the course of an investigation, and both were arrested before they could carry out a terrorist attack. At least one of them had spent time recently in Syria, but was not even questioned about this by the State Department until 9 months AFTER his entry into the United States.

A federal grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday alleges that he attempted to provide material support and resources, including training, expert advice and assistance, to ISIS. The indictment does not provide details about the evidence behind the allegations.

The indictment also alleges that he lied in his citizenship application, saying that he was not associated with a terrorist organization when he’d associated with members and sympathizers of ISIS throughout 2014, according to the Justice Department.

If convicted, Hardan faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Authorities apparently discovered their connections to terror organizations by examining their social media posts.

Thankfully, the feds were vigilant to catch these guys in time. The problem, however, is that these guys slipped through our allegedly rigorous refugee screening process that we have and that President Obama promises will keep us safe. They were here in the United States for several months before we happened to catch them. And now we learn that they were not even ASKED about several very obvious red flags in their history until after they had been here for almost a year.

Anyway, I’m sure the only reason Republicans have to ask for a pause in the refugee program is completely unfounded skepticism about the competence of the Federal Government.