Obama hits out at United States refugee ‘hysteria’

The White House held a 90-minute phone call with 34 governors on Tuesday night to explain how Syrian refugees are screened and prioritised for entry.

But governors do not trust the process, and in the wake of the Paris attacks, more than two dozen say they now oppose Syrian refugees moving to their states. The White Home plans to simply accept 10,000 refugees from Syria over the subsequent yr, out of greater than four million who’re estimated to have fled the war-torn country.

He said: “I have a real concern that people coming into this country are coming in for very bad purposes and they are coming all different ways, coming in for a few very bad purposes”. They are accusing Republicans of turning their backs on victims fleeing the horrors of Islamic State terrorists.

Despite Gov. Bruce Rauner’s statement that IL is temporarily closed off to Syrian refugees, immigration groups say resettling plans aren’t changing.

The program’s approval rate sits at about 50 percent, and more than half of the Syrian refugees the USA has taken in so far are children, officials said.

Republican lawmakers defied President Barack Obama on Wednesday and set out plans following last week’s Paris attacks to tighten screening of Syrian refugees in a fight that challenges America’s view of itself as a refuge for downtrodden immigrants.

Republican presidential candidate Sen.

Cruz told reporters in Charleston, South Carolina, this weekend that he would admit all persecuted Christians from Syria to the U.S. but no persecuted Muslims.

“When individuals say we should have a religious test and that only Christians, proven Christians should be admitted, that’s offensive”, Obama said in the Philippines, where he is attending a regional summit.

Still, House Speaker Paul Ryan is calling for a pause in the Syrian Refugee Program until it is certain that none of them pose a threat.

The White House said that a few governors asked for more communication so that they “are able to better respond to questions from the public about the refugee screening and resettlement process”.

There is evidence that one of the attackers may have slipped in with the refugees flooding Europe, though Germany’s top security expert said a passport carried by one of the attackers may have been a ploy to stoke fears. Most, if not all, of the perpetrators of the Paris attacks were French.