Thanksgiving Day: Obama urges Americans to show generosity to Syrian refugees

President Barack Obama has a stated goal of admitting up to 10,000 additional Syrian refugees during this fiscal budget year.

He said he’s been touched by the generosity of the Americans who have offered to “open their homes to refugees fleeing the brutality” of the Islamic State group.

There have been growing concerns surrounding refugee resettling in the USA since the deadly terror attacks in Paris were found to have been organized, in part, by a terrorist who traveled freely to and from Syria while being watched by several government agencies.

Last week, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a bill that increases the restrictions on refugees from Iraq and Syria.

Thanksgiving Day in the USA is traced to a feast in 1621 by the Pilgrims in which they gave their appreciation to god for their first successful harvest in the New World.

Obama’s own policy decisions-allowing Assad to convert peaceful demonstrations into an increasingly ugly civil war, refusing to declare safe havens and no fly zones-were instrumental in creating the Syrian refugee crisis.

The president said the U.S. situation is different from that in Europe, where refugees arrive and then have to be sorted out.

The president recognized the greatness of America as evidenced by the generosity of its people.

The legislation would mandate the top security executives – Federal Bureau of Investigation director, the Department of Homeland Security director, and the director of national intelligence – to make sure that US has no security risk from refugees who will be admitted. “That was the case before Paris, and it’s the case now”, he said.

“The Health and Human Services Commission will continue to follow the directive of Gov. Abbott, which calls for the State of Texas to not participate in the resettlement of Syrian refugees”, HHSC spokesman Bryan Black said in a statement.

“One woman from Pennsylvania wrote me to say, ‘Money is tight for us in my household … but I have a guest room”. According to Republicans, this step is important following a terrorists attack in Paris on Friday, killing more than 120 people.

Forty-seven House Democrats joined 242 Republicans in calling for such an action, though Obama has said he would veto the bill even if it passes the Senate. I have a pantry full of food.

The ORR letter attempted to assure concerned governors by stating that all refugees will be subject to the “highest level” of security checks, which would involve a “multi-layered and intensive screening and vetting process”.

The governors who want to shut the door to Syrian refugees don’t have the authority to keep them out.

Nevertheless, the president wanted Americans to remember who we are as a nation.