GOP leaders arranged a task force Tuesday to develop legislation to address the Syrian refugee plan after authorities said at least one of the eight terrorists involved in the Paris terrorist attacks originated in Syria. There’s not a high likelihood that they would ever come here.
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The House Judiciary Subcommittee will also hold a hearing Thursday on the impact of the refugee crisis on the security of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program as a whole.
“Why would we let people in the country when ISIS has told us they are going to send terrorists with these refugees?” he said.
The vetting process for refugees in the United States is already quite extensive.
The USA has admitted fewer than 2,200 Syrian refugees since October 1, 2011, but Obama administration officials want to admit 10,000 more this year.
It would stipulate that no Syrian or Iraqi refugee can enter the United States until Congress receives certification that they are not a national security threat, he said in a statement late on Tuesday.
“This is a moment where it’s better to be safe than to be sorry, so we think the prudent, the responsible thing is to take a pause in this particular aspect of this refugee program in order to verify that terrorists are not trying to infiltrate the refugee population”, he added.
The list of states that will not accept Syrian refugees after Friday’s deadly terror attacks in Paris is growing.
Another Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, also had tough words for Obama, calling him “delusional”.
But Democrats say the changes would amount to shutting down the nation’s refugee program. And Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who is Jewish, invoked the story of the St. Louis, the boat filled with Jewish refugees from Germany that was turned away by the US (and Canada) in 1939.
Most offices working to help resettle the refugees are voluntary and faith based. Obama said he’s been waiting for a year and a half for lawmakers to take up refugee legislation, questioning why they are now suddenly in a rush.
While Governor Rauner had declared that, “Illinois will temporarily suspend accepting new Syrian refugees”.
One Syrian family who arrived here earlier this year, watched from the visitors’ gallery.
“We will not have a religious test, only a security test”, Ryan said in a speech on the House floor.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republican efforts to heighten the screening of refugees will not discriminate against Muslims, who are in the vast majority in Syria and Iraq.
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According to media reports, President Obama is scheduled to speak with governors in a conference call on Tuesday night.
