Most of the official statements by Texas Republicans have focused on stopping Syrians from entering the country until the government can guarantee that none of the refugees will harm USA citizens.
Advertisement
The Obama administration is working to stem the backlash against their plans to resettle Syrian refugees in the United States.
Days after the terrorist attacks in France, governors across the United States have said they won’t allow Syrian refugees to seek asylum in certain states, including Ohio.
Appleby said to “turn our backs” on America’s history of offering safe haven “diminishes our standing and moral leadership in the world and our ability to bring nations together to address this humanitarian crisis”.
Christopher Roederer, a professor of law and director of global programs at the Florida Coastal School of Law, says governors have no authority to refuse the entry of anyone into their states.
“When candidates say we should not admit three-year-old orphans, that’s political posturing”.
“We are not well served when in response to a terrorist attack we descend into fear and panic”.
It also 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.
Refugees from Syria are then subject to additional screening that looks at where they came from and what caused them to flee their home, stories that are checked out.
She says Kasich’s letter to President Obama yesterday, urging a halt to Syrian refugees allowed into the U.S., won’t stop her organization’s work.
Thus far, the numbers of Syrians admitted to the US have been limited, and they are vetted in a lengthy process.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan echoed Walker’s caution.
Obama administration officials stressed that criminal history is only part of the process and consideration, but acknowledged there are limits to what’s available.
The list of states that will not accept Syrian refugees after Friday’s deadly terror attacks in Paris is growing.
The governors of MI, Pennsylvania, Vermont and other states participated Tuesday and asked questions of senior Obama administration officials. 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 USA (and Canada) in 1939.
Advertisement
After that, they must undergo screening by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defnese and other federal agencies.
