White House holds call with 34 governors on Syrian refugees

If Martinez’s office responds to the requests sent Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, we will add them to this post.

Although there is little that states can do to reject refugees from entering their territories, Rauner is among more than GOP chief executives announcing he wants to stop Syrians from entering IL.

IN is among the more than half of states, majority with Republican governors, that have objected to the arrival of the Syrian immigrants without assurances of proper security measures in place. The U.S.is already selective, usually considering for resettlement only refugees deemed “vulnerable”, such as widows, unaccompanied children or political enemies of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

‘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, the Republican McCaul said.

Chicago’s City Council today defied Governor Bruce Rauner’s order to suspend the resettling of Syrian refugees.

Syrian refugees were the subject of a briefing from various federal agencies to USA governors on Tuesday. “I told them that people in the United States are generous and good people but sometimes things happen elsewhere that cause people to forget about their generosity, forget about their native warmth and spirit”. The bill was introduced in Congress in response to last week’s terror attacks in Paris that left at least 129 people dead and several hundred injured; the bill is set for a vote on Thursday.

President Barack Obama has agreed to accept 10,000 refugees from Syria, a minuscule percentage of those displaced by the Syrian Civil War.

Some lawmakers opposing further Syrian resettlement pointed to indications that one of the attackers in Paris carried a Syrian passport and may have arrived in France amid the millions who have fled to Europe in recent months and years.

Bentley and roughly a dozen other governors participated in a conference call with senior White House aides Tuesday night. A total of 11 percent think refugees should be accepted, albeit with a religious test to screen out Muslims and accept only Christians.

It must be noted that Syrian refugees are fleeing the kind of barbarism that was on display in the Paris massacre. “Best case, we are contributing to the homeless emergency around here and they will have to come to us for a lot more tax dollars to deal with homelessness”, Dori said.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services define a refugee as one who is outside of his or her homeland and has been persecuted on account of race, religion, or nationality.

The officials briefed the governors on the rigorous screening and security vetting process that is required before a refugee is able to travel to the United States.