In his weekly radio address broadcast aired Thursday, Obama noted his commitment to accept an additional 10,000 Syrian refugees this year. At the same time, a recent Ipsos survey commissioned by World Vision found that 71 percent of Americans said they would be willing to help Syrian refugees.
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“What makes America America is that we provide that probability”, he added.
There have been growing concerns surrounding refugee resettling in the US since the deadly terror attacks in Paris were found to have been organized, in part, by a terrorist who traveled freely to and from Syria while being watched by several government agencies.
Mr. Obama is hoping to persuade senators, who will be asked next week to consider a bill passed by the House last week that imposes new checks on Syrian refugees.
Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. is traced to a feast in 1621 by the Pilgrims in which they gave their appreciation to god for their first successful harvest in the New World. One reason cited by many respondents is a concern that Islamic State terrorists could slip through the USA refugee vetting process.
“We have, for years, safely admitted refugees from all over the world, including Syrian refugees, and we have a great deal of experience screening and admitting large numbers of refugees from chaotic environments, including where intelligence holdings are limited”, Henshaw said.
The president then went on to say that, all Americans must open their neighborhoods, their homes, and hearts to Syrian refugees.
He further criticized the administration as “hypocritical” for threatening states that might not comply with refugee resettlement while turning a blind eye to sanctuary cities – that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement.
Obama next asserted: “There’s the generosity of Americans who take part not just in Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but Giving Tuesday – recognizing that in the holiday season, what you give is as important as what you get”.
Obama has said that refugees will be well-screened.
Among them, writes CIS fellow Dan Cadman, is an ability of jihadists to exploit Syria’s chaos to obtain legitimate Syrian documents, forge them and present the forgeries to US officers who would have “no one…” “Wyoming does not have a refugee resettlement program”.
Since January of 2014, the USA has embraced the resettlement of 2,058 Syrian refugees. According to the International Refugee Assistance Project, those Iraqi translators are among the 58,000 or more Iraqis who worked with the U.S. They are still awaiting for visa processing.
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A spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees refugee resettlement in the state, said the letter will not change the state’s position of blocking Syrian refugees.
