President Obama wrapped up his remarks at the G20 summit in Turkey this morning with a searing indictment of American unwillingness to take in Syrian refugees – and, in particular, the idea (increasingly popular among Republicans) that the U.S. should only take in refugees if they’re Christians. “There are a lot of Christians in Syria that have no place now”, Bush told Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
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Ted Cruz Monday defended using a “religious test” to sift through the refugees fleeing Syria, responding to President Barack Obama’s admonition of him earlier in the day.
Despite a recent study showing that non-Muslim extremists have committed twice as many acts of terror in the U.S.as Muslim extremists, governors in a number of states said they would not welcome Syrian refugees after the Paris attacks. “If there were a group of radical Christians pledging to murder anyone who had a different religious view than they, we would have a different national security situation”, Cruz (R-Tex.) told reporters in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, according to the Washington Post. “We don’t have religious tests (for) our compassion”, Obama forcefully insisted.
Obama insisted that the US would uphold his commitment of accepting refugees from Syria despite rising opposition from conservatives. At least one of the terrorists responsible for the attacks in Paris used a Syrian passport to gain entry into Europe. Obama said that likely wouldn’t work.
He added that, “On the other hand Christians who are being targeted for genocide, for persecution, Christians who are being beheaded or crucified, we should be providing safe haven to them”.
Ali’s organization is hoping to put together more education about Syrian refugees. I am glad to see USA forces acting strongly in Syria today.
The Texas senator instead thinks that Muslims fleeing the Syrian civil war should be repopulated to other Muslim countries.
The president said the way to counter the “twisted ideology” of ISIS was to build coalitions, target their leaders, partner with local forces, and ultimately take back territory to deny recruiting tools.
The rising presidential candidate is aligning himself with the most restrictionist voices in the debate over how to handle the refugee crisis, which is dominating the Republican race after a deadly attack in Paris left more than 100 dead. Governor Jay Inslee did the opposite and said Washington would continue to support refugees.
“It’s our better impulse, and whether we are European or American, the values that we are defending, the values that we’re fighting against ISIL for, are precisely that we don’t discriminate against people due to their faith”.
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Robert Bentley, the governor of Alabama, said: “I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama through the US Refugee Admissions Programme”.
