Some governors, including Florida’s Rick Scott, challenge plan to accept

Scott said the decision comes after the ISIS terrorist attacks last week in Paris.

Several USA governors are threatening to halt efforts to allow Syrian refugees into their states in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris, and at least eight have signaled opposition to accepting refugees. Still, the Republican says he wants more information from the federal government about where people are being placed and the vetting process. “Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity”. “The federal government is going to bring them in”. He’s demanding to know how many Syrian refugees have been resettled in his state.

The governors of OH and MS also announced their states would not allow Syrian refugees.

The White House urged the public to remember that Syrian refugees are victims, too.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, has sought to reassure receiving states.

The move has also quickly become political, with Republican presidential candidate and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal the first of the governors in the race to block refugees in his own state.

Other governor’s statements avoided mentions of their Muslim and Arab-American constituents. “The governor is writing to the President to ask him to stop, and to ask him to stop resettling them in OH”. “We are also looking at what additional steps OH can take to stop resettlement of these refugees”.

Scott said in his letter Monday that Florida does not have the authority to stop the relocation of Syrian refugees to the state, but he said that he has ordered the Florida Department of Children and Families to reject any relocation requests that it receives. “Given the awful situation in Paris, I’ve directed that we put on hold our efforts to accept new refugeesuntil the U.S. Department of Homeland Security completes a full review of security clearances and procedures”.

New Jersey ranked ninth in the nation in the number of Syrian refugees it has taken in this year, according to the State Department data. “We can and must do both”.

“The United States has a long history of accepting refugees fleeing from war torn countries like Syria”. In a few cases they can be referred by a US embassy or non-governmental agency.

In other cases, potential refugees who are close relatives of people granted asylum in the USA or other refugees already in the country can apply directly with the US government.

As the list of states blocking refugees grows, at least one state – DE – announced that it plans to accept refugees. Obama has called for 10,000 Syrian immigrants to be allowed into the U.S.in light of the migration crisis in Europe. War in Syria has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands, swelling refugee camps in countries bording Syrian and leading to a wave of migrants in Europe.

Obama denounced as “shameful” the suggestion that the USA should give precedence to Christian refugees from Syria, a notion floated by GOP presidential candidates Sen. Donald Trump said the US should increase surveillance of mosques, consider closing any tied to radicals and be prepared to suspend a few civil liberties. It’s unfortunate that a few states are trying to make Syrian refugees fleeing terrorism themselves feel unwelcome, she said.