He said that no refugees should be permitted into the USA from Syria “unless they be Christian refugees that are facing genocide”, and said that the spending bill should contain language specifying as much.
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Meanwhile, the leader of the Senate Republicans, John Flanagan, says while the Syrian refugee crisis is a “tragedy”, their immigration should be “suspended until there is an effective vetting process in place”.
Governors in more than half of the United States have now publicly opposed the resettlement of Syrian refugees over security concerns.
Look, weve always been a generous nation taking in refugees, Ryan said. This is a situation where you have single men coming over, which is not women and children..
We have to err on the side of protecting the American people and we can not run the risk of bringing terrorists into the United States, DeSantis, a Republican from Northeast Florida, said in a release.
Presidential candidates have also weighed in, with Florida Sen. Authorities said a Syrian passport was found near one of the attackers in Friday’s deadly attacks, and the Paris prosecutors’ office says fingerprints from the attacker match those of someone who passed through Greece in October.
The president of France has called these attacks by ISIS against a civilian population an act of war. European governments have closed or may close their borders. And from the states, this debate will quickly move to Congress, where GOP lawmakers are promising to push legislation to end funding for the federal resettlement program for Syrian refugees.
The USA has admitted only about 2,500 Syrians since the civil war erupted in that country in the spring of 2011, but Obama administration officials want to admit 10,000 more this year.
Senior officials on the call included President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and representatives from the Departments of Homeland Security, State and Health and Human Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Counterterrorism Center.
Scott is not alone in seeking to block Syrian refugees from his state. Governors in Arizona, Arkansas, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, OH and Wisconsin have also announced they will refuse to accept any more Syrians.
“Without a proper way to vet the refugees fleeing Syria, and following the attacks in Paris this weekend, NY must reject the placement of refugees in our state”, Friend said in a prepared statement.
In a statement, the White House said governors encouraged more communication from the administration to ensure that they can better respond to questions from the public about the refugee screening and resettlement process.
There are two organizations in Austin designated by the U.S. State Department to resettle refugees, and both were scrambling Monday to figure out what the governor’s directive means.
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Its not that we dont want to, Rubio said.
