Rep. Jenkins: United States needs to halt acceptance of Syrian, Iraqi refugees

After 1492, the Spanish set up the Inquisition to figure out who was a true convert to Christianity and who was still secretly practicing either Judaism or Islam. Are you, Mr. Representative, interested in a new Inquisition? “It’s very hard to determine who is the bad and who is the good”, he said. Many Governors across the country have stated that they will not welcome Syrian refugees under any circumstances. For those wishing to come to America to do harm, the refugee program is the least likely way to get in and the most likely way to get caught. It’s easy to become inward-looking, fearful and intolerant of people who don’t look like us, who don’t follow our cultural customs, who follow a different god. It is – as everyone knows — 10,000. That war, with the Assad regime’s use of not only chemical weapons but such “conventional” weapons as shrapnel-filled barrels dropped and exploded over villages, has been brutal in a way we can hardly fathom. Perhaps that’s true of Christian refugees from Syria, but in fact there are plenty of Christian terrorists in recent American history – abortion clinic bombers, abortion doctor assassins, Timothy McVeigh – and the list goes on. This is the man who touts himself a full-fledged defender of freedom.

Because I know that for a few, the first response is to think that somehow all Muslims are responsible.

It’s a mistake to blame all Muslims for what happened in Paris, unless you want to blame all Catholics for IRA bombings, or all Protestants for the KKK. “They will say it is a security risk or it will hurt our economy”. Hats off to the Governor of CT who immediately welcomed them to his state.

Obama is the emotional type, the morally correct one, just as he should be.

What is going on here? But if ever there was a time to show we mean what we say – that our values, our principles, our way of life – soar above the ways of freedom’s enemies, then it’s right now, right here, embedded in our acceptance of 10,000 Syrian refugees to America’s shores. (An embarrassingly miniscule number).

In September, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper admitted, “I don’t, obviously, put it past the likes of ISIL to infiltrate operatives among these refugees, so that’s a huge concern of ours”.

We will never know how many murdered Jews, Gypsies, LGBT and others would have survived the war had the USA opened its doors as Hitler’s killing machine was gearing up. All in all, from 1975 through 2002, a total of 759,000 Vietnamese arrived in the United States as refugees. Two terrorists were given the welcome mat to settle in Kentucky, where they lived off food stamps and welfare for two years before the Federal Bureau of Investigation closed in on them in 2011. We have the knowledge and vetting processes in place to welcome people who have lost their homes and are seeking the same things we all want: “hope, dignity and opportunity for our families”, Larsen said.

Ryan C. Crocker, dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and a former USA ambassador to Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kuwait, wrote this Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal: “The administration can hasten the process without weakening security by simply directing security agencies to devote more time and staff to the task”.

When we descend into intolerance and hate, we aid ISIS.

Perhaps most worrisome about the debate about Syrian refugees is its context.

Integrating Syrian refugees into West Virginia communities has the potential to help the state in this aspect. We recognize the importance of security checks and will continue to support your administration’s strong background checks for all refugees. About 180,000 Syrians have sought asylum in European Union countries this year.