Ben Carson asks Congress to block Syrian refugees

Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson has sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan urging that in the wake of the Islamic State attacks in Paris, the House terminate “all public funding for any ongoing federal programs that seek to resettle refugees and/or migrants from Syria into the United States, effective immediately”.

A number of House Republicans issued similar calls, including Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price of Georgia, who said the USA “must suspend our refugee program until certainty is brought to the vetting process”. “You can’t fly there”. The former neurosurgeon and author is popular among Republicans, with more than 7 in 10 expressing a favorable view in a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll.

When asked if he thought President Obama was wrong for saying that he did not think ISIS was gaining strength and for saying ISIS was contained, Carson suggested President Obama was not getting great intelligence. It would be foolish for them not to do that.

“You have to be willing to recognize that you are not the end-all, but that you are the conduit for the conduct of American policies” as president, he said.

Carson, reading a statement from his iPhone, pushed back on the idea that America should be responsible for accepting “these refugees”.

“I do not believe that we should be bringing them here”.

He then explained, “I would say the reason is because you can articulate intelligent options and because you know how to work with other people and utilize the incredible resources that we have available to us”. Animals, on the other hand, have big brain stems and rudimentary thinking because they react. “We don’t have to just react we can think”, he added.