White House holds call with governors on Syrian refugees

On Tuesday, speaking from the Philippines, Obama said those who seek to shut the door on refugees fleeing the ever-expanding violence in Syria are “scared of widows and 3-year-old orphans”.

On Tuesday Abbott made it clear that he considers Syrian refugees a threat to security, directing Department of Public Safety officials to check on the 200 refugees already settled in Texas, reported the Houston Chronicle.

Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, another of the Senate’s GOP White House candidates, on Monday also announced legislation that would suspend issuing visas in countries “with a high risk of terrorism” and impose a waiting period for background checks on visas being issued in other countries until Americans can be assured terrorists cannot enter the country through the US immigration and visa system.

“The bill requires the nation’s top security officials – the secretary of Homeland Security, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the director of National Intelligence – to certify before admitting any Syrian or Iraqi refugee into the United States that the individual does not represent a security threat”, said Michael McCaul, the Republican House Homeland Security Committee chairman.

At least 30 governors – mostly Republicans – have said they will not allow Syrian refugees into their states.

None of the suspects identified so far in the Paris attacks has been identified as a Syrian refugee and the German interior minister says the Syrian migrant passport found at the scene is likely a fake.

He gave no specific details but said a task force is working on legislation, adding: “It’s better to be safe than to be sorry”.

It must be noted that Syrian refugees are fleeing the kind of barbarism that was on display in the Paris massacre.

To date, more than half of the nation’s governors have urged Obama to stop his Syrian refugee resettlement program.

“Religion has nothing to do with it, refugees are refugees”, said Dooley, “I think there is a legitimate opinion that we need to know more about what the State Department’s process to vet these refugees is going to be, and I think that’s also a fair notion”.

New Hampshire’s Democratic Governor Maggie Hassan and California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown joined Republican governors in asking to be notified whenever refugees were resettled in their states.

It would be stupid to ignore the possibility that Islamic terrorists would try to slip into the United States along with legitimate refugees.

The more we alienate refugees, Muslim or other, the more we fuel the feeling of helplessness, degrade their humanity and increase their suffering.

The rhetoric from Republicans has angered Obama, who seemed to take particular exception to the sentiments of Cruz – though not by name.

“We have seen many cases just be cancelled”, Limón said.

If a refugee is approved, periodic screening continues, in a process that takes on average about two years, from recommendation to acceptance.

Defenders of Obama’s plan say the 10,000 refugees is a tiny fraction of the millions of refugees created by Syria’s five-year civil war, as well as the almost 300,000 refugees that Europe is absorbing.