(CNN)The terrorist attacks in Paris showed the world just how vulnerable a free society can be.
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About 10 percent of the population in Syria is Christians, and the Christian minority is among the main civilian target of the Islamic State terror group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
President Obama seems intent on ignoring the public’s fear of terrorism by vowing to veto a House bill passed Thursday that strengthens the vetting process for Syrian refugees.
Opponents say the bill is an overreaction, but a nation that has endured the horrors of 9/11 and has witnessed the continued ruthless attacks here and overseas has cause to be exceptionally vigilant.
“We are not well served when, in response to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic”, Obama told reporters in Manila, Philippines, after a meeting at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit with President Benigno Aquino.
I genuinely believe that human beings wake up each morning wanting to be good people, to do the right thing. We must remember that ISIS is at war with us even if we hesitate to declare war on them.
The administration plans to increase the number of Syrian refugees it accepts from 1,682 to 10,000 this fiscal year.
The Obama administration is trying to reassure governors that refugees bound for their states undergo rigorous vetting procedures. Any refugee who is deemed to pose a threat to our national security is denied.
But Lavinia Limon, president and CEO of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigration, has the Associated Press that under the Refugee Act of 1980, governors can not legally block refugees. This includes, partnering with local businesses and churches to assist with living arrangements, providing English classes, aiding in their job search, and much more. “Let’s set the record straight how it works for a refugee to get asylum”. That is definitely a challenge….
This is a moment, then, when it’s better to be safe than sorry.
The letter said that applicants for refugee admission “are screened more carefully than any other type of traveler to the United States”. Think about that within the context of the current demonization of Muslim refugees from Syria and Iraq.
The United States should not be shying away from taking in refugees of Syria. He emphasized there is no “religious test, only a security test”.
This is a compassionate country.
“And at the same time we saw the world come together in solidarity”.
Republican Speaker Paul Ryan said, “If our law enforcement and our intelligence community can not verify that each and every person is not a security threat, then they shouldn’t be allowed in…” That is simply common sense.
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“When we talk about American leadership, American leadership is us caring about people who have been forgotten or who have been discriminated against or who’ve been tortured or who’ve been subject to unspeakable violence or who’ve been separated from families at very young ages”, he said Saturday. Friday, however, he declined to join other Republican governors in a letter to President Obama, asking for the suspension of the resettlement program for Syrian refugees.
