The US House of Representatives could vote as early as Thursday on resolution 4038, which aims to block administration plans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming year.
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As of late Tuesday, 30 governors – 29 Republicans and 1 Democrat – had expressed opposition to bringing in refugees after European officials confirmed one of the terrorists who attacked Paris last week was a Syrian who had registered with E.U. officials while traveling through Greece seeking asylum.
Gov. Nathan Deal says the state will not accept Syrian refugees, joining leaders of other states who have made similar statements.
Republican presidential candidates and congressional leaders have warned that terrorists could sneak into the pool of Syrian refugees allowed into the United States if the resettlement program – created to aid those fleeing civil war and the Islamic State – isn’t halted.
Ige’s news conference is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
“They are subjected to the most rigorous process conceivable”, he said of the refugees.
The tone here in the U.S.is much different.
McConnell echoed that call, remarking, “It’s pretty clear how the American people feel about this”.
Underlying their concerns is the fact that one of the attackers entered France by posing as a Syrian refugee.
“This is a federal program carried out under the authority of federal law and refugees arriving in the United States are protected by the Constitution and federal law”, a senior administration official said.
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.
Obama has urged Congress not to “descend into fear and panic” and make it more hard for refugees to enter the United States because of the Paris attacks.
In a symbolic attempt to challenge statements issued by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner that Syrian refugees are not welcome in his state, lawmakers in Chicago voted Wednesday in favor of a measure that establishes the windy city as a sanctuary city open to accepting Syrian refugees. Decisions on refugee status belong to the federal government, and once people are admitted to the United States, there is no method to bar people of a certain nationality from any state. Don’t we owe aid to them before Syrian refugees?
We should be cautious, but we also must not abandon these desperate people fleeing for their lives.
Syrians have not been a part of North Dakota’s refugee resettlement program in the past.
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Yet few Democrats were so outspoken, and even Republicans sympathetic to their view said they saw a need to act.
