“What is different today is that, for the first time in many, many years, refugees came in big numbers to the developed world”. “Parisians opening their doors to anyone trapped in the street, taxi drivers turning off their meters to get people home safely, people lining up to donate blood”, he said. In the wake of these bad events, I understand the anxiety that many Americans feel. It will take an average of two years for a Syrian refugee to be vetted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security before they can make it to the sanctuary of our shores.
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The bill, proposed by Republican Congressmen Mike McCaul and Richard Hudson, would block the entry of Syrian refugees into the US unless the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence assure Congress that these people pose no threat. “There’s no possibility of being overwhelmed by a flood of refugees landing on our doorstep tomorrow”, Biden said.
Obama officials claim processing refugees for admittance into the USA can take 18 to 24 months and that processing Syrian refugees can take longer. Approximately 784,000 refugees have resettled in the United States after September 11, 2001. A recent poll showed that over half of all Americans oppose resettling Syrian refugees in the United States.[1] The governors of 31 states, nearly all of them Republican, have publicly refused settlement of any refugees from that war-torn country into their respective states, deeming it a threat to security, [2] and they are not alone.
During a campaign town hall in New Hampshire on Saturday, Christie kept up his attacks on Obama and said it was “almost amusing to be lectured by the President of the United States” accusing him of being afraid of “widows and orphans”. “The law requires the applicant to provide information that establishes their identity and allows us to assess whether they present a security risk to the country”.
The girl got separated from her family as they fled Myanmar and she was preyed on by traffickers before the United Nations helped her reach the resettlement center in Malaysia.
He called Islamic State a “gang of thugs peddling a warped ideology” and said shutting out refugees would “play right into the terrorists’ hands” by increasing tensions between Muslims and the West. But this gang of thugs peddling a warped ideology, they will never prevail. In a more just world, the Islamic State’s Muslim neighbors would solve this problem.
“The only thing ISIL can do is spread terror in hopes that we will in turn, turn on ourselves”. “And don’t relax yet, because we’ve barely even started”. “That’s how they win”, he said. “We can not and should not wait to act, not when our national security is at stake”. Refusing to compromise our fundamental American values: freedom, openness, tolerance.
Others decried what they described as a knee-jerk reaction following the Paris attacks, one that hurts the very people who are fleeing extremism.
Vice President Biden was correct.
Last week, the American people spoke and the “People’s House” listened. After 9/11, the Bush administration gave al-Qaeda exactly what it wanted by sending U.S. troops to Iraq.
“Sowing fear of refugees is exactly the kind of response groups like ISIS are seeking”, said Iain Levine, deputy executive director for program at Human Rights Watch.
THEN: At the start of October, the retired neurosurgeon and GOP presidential candidate said the US should bar refugees from Syria because they are “infiltrated with jihadists”, who seek to harm America.
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The best way to keep America safe is to form a global coalition dedicated to defeating ISIL. The Paris attacks are a sobering reminder of the danger of terrorism.
