To go a bit further on the Anchorage comparison, look at the total number of people from those 7 countries living in the US.  Looks like 85,000+ Somalians, 64,000+ syrians, 145,000+ Iraqis, 700,000 Iranians (including Iranian Americans), and so on.  The total number of people in the US from the 7 countries is probably over 1 million.  The Anchorage population is about 300,000.  Number of homicides in Anchorage in just 2016 was 34, I think.  We know the total killed by people from those countries is zero from terror attacks since 2001. In the US, you'd be safer living in a community of people from just those 7 nations than you would living in Anchorage. The vetting process makes those folks safer than the locals.  The bad kids killing other kids in Palmer and the goons on the street in Anchorage didn't have to go through a vetting process - they are already here.  Most of the local goons probably wouldn't pass a vetting process, but they don't have to.