U.S. should not take in Syrian refugees

The stop was placed on the president’s schedule in Kuala Lumpur before the terror attacks in Paris, and the subsequent backlash against a plan to increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed into the United States. However, that report only points to two Iraqi men in a 2010 arrest.

FBI Director James Comey revealed that his agency is investigating suspected supporters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in every state across the U.S. The FBI director explained that in general it was “highly unlikely” that federal agents are going to be the first to notice “someone acting in unusual ways” on social media, at religious institutions, at educational institutions and in the community. The most solemn and consequential responsibility of the federal government is to protect the American people.

“I’m not trying to cast aspersions on Muslims in general, because I’m sure the vast majority of Muslims are good people just like the vast majority of Christians are”, said Richard Tucker, sitting alone an hour before a major Iowa faith conference began Friday. However, details released so far about the attackers show they were all from Belgium or France.

After World War II and again after the Vietnam War, thousands of refugees were resettled in far off countries, but that system changed quite a while ago. “And the notion that somehow we would be fearful of them, that our politics would somehow leave us to turn our sights away from their plight, is not representative of the best of who we are”.

Attorneys who specialize in immigration law say the process is comprehensive and hard to pass. The refugees spend months or even years in temporary camps while their stories are considered and researched. The refugees have been admitted to 138 cities and towns in a total of 36 states – with California, Texas, Michigan, Arizona and IL taking the most. The interviews are meant to identify red flags and determine whether the applicants meet US criteria for resettlement that prioritize families, unaccompanied children and victims of torture. Numerous adults are women tasked with caring for children.

Still, 250,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions more have been displaced by the ongoing violence there between Syrian rebels, Assad’s army, and ISIS.

“We are not well served when, in response to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic”, Obama said in the Philippines on Wednesday. A bipartisan group of senators rightly says this is a greater security threat than refugee resettlement. “That’s when we’re the shining light on the hill”.

And perspective? Canada has committed to accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees, and Germany may absorb 800,000 by the end of the year. In recent years, it has been about 70,000 refugees.

In 2015, more than a third of refugees came from Near East and Southeast Asia, a region that includes Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria.

Is there justification to think there might be terrorists being slipped into our country through the Syrian pipeline but no reason to worry or believe our enemies would try the same method of getting terrorists into the USA through Central and South America? The danger of a terrorist attack on our soil is legitimate and sobering. “We must continue to have compassion for others, but we must also maintain the safety of Iowans and the security of our state”.

“Refugees are finger-printed, photographed, and vetted against all of the national security databases we maintain in search of any hint of terrorist ties or any other criminal or nefarious activity in their background”, Carper said.