Detroit - Over and over, Nedal Al-Hayk and his wife traveled up to three hours by bus from their temporary home in Jordan to an office where U.S. Homeland Security officials put them in separate rooms and asked them many questions in many different ways: Where were you born? Where were your parents born? Were you part of a rebel group? Were you politically outspoken?

Finally, nearly three years after the Syrian couple fled their war-ravaged homeland, they and their two young children arrived in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, ready to start a promising new life in a new country.

“I came here to succeed and have a quality of life, not to be a hindrance to the government and the citizens of America,” said the 28-year-old Al-Hayk, who is working at a factory and studying English with hopes of pursuing the agricultural engineering degree he started in Syria. “Even if I need to start over, I’ll start over.”

As some governors, lawmakers and presidential candidates vow to block the resettlement of more Syrian refugees in the U.S. for fear that terrorists will slip into the country and carry out Paris-style attacks, those who have made it here describe an arduous screening process that they would not have undergone if they didn’t want to make America their permanent home.... Read More: VIN