Arkansas’ four representatives, all Republicans, also voted for the measure.
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“It is against the values of our nation and the values of a free society to give terrorists the opening they are looking for.”
“We are a nation at war”, Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), who introduced the bill along with Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) told USA Today”.
The president has vowed to veto the bill, saying it does nothing to enhance national security while ending an already highly-regulated refugee program.
“This is an urgent matter, and that is why we’re dealing with this urgently”, said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “I don’t feel like we should be scared of that, I mean they’re just people”. The bill would now move on to the Senate for a vote.
The White House has said that 2,174 Syrians have been admitted to the U.S. since the attacks in September 2001, and noted that none of them has been arrested or deported for terror offences.
House members who supported the bill “will be able to go home to their district over Thanksgiving, act as if they were tough”, said Rep. Brendan Boyle, a first-term Democrat whose district includes Philadelphia and Montgomery County.
Following the attacks in Paris, though none of the confirmed attackers were found to be Syrian-let alone Syrian refugees-racist paranoia has swept the United States. Still, advocacy groups warned that refugees could be left to languish while the new changes are put into place, and the Catholic bishops and others announced their opposition.
A French citizen, for example, could travel to Syria, return to France, and then travel to the USA under the program, said Sen.
Refugees are subject to many background checks in a process that can take two years or longer. “Five intelligence agencies work in tandem with one another to properly vet these refugees before they ever arrive to the U.S.”.
The White House planned to accept over 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year. The US welcomed 1,682 Syrians in fiscal 2015, said Simon Henshaw, the State Department’s principal deputy assistant for refugees and migration.
Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers have warned that terrorists could use the resettlement program to sneak into the United States with the Syrian refugees.
Doing so would signal “that the USA is committed to this fight”.
Dr. Tom Miller, the director of the Department of Public Health, said in a phone interview Wednesday that if ADPH had any role in refugee resettlement, it would be screening for disease.
Obama on Monday told reporters the United States must remain committed to tolerance.
“The Governor knows full well how rigorous our refugee screening process is”, said Micah McCoy, Communications Director for the New Mexico American Civil Liberties Union.
Yet a few Democrats chafed at the White House position. Like him, almost every Republican, and all of them from the Philadelphia area, backed the bill.
The big question is whether the House will get a chance at an override vote. Maloney ended up voting with Republicans in support of the legislation.
If passed into law, the bill would require the entry process for refugees to be halted until the new requirements are ready to be executed.
Ryan said the bill made the current system “even stronger”.
The bill, if passed by the parliament will seek to impose very stringent security measures to provide for shelter to Syrian refugees.
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Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana has already signed a state executive order barring the resettlement of Syrian refugees there. Democrats pushed back at the officials, the aide added, pointing out that the president does certifications all the time.
