The important thing to understand is that Paris’ attacks didn’t occur in a vacuum.
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In a statement, Bentley say “it is clear that the United States is not prepared to handle the resettlement of Syrian refugees, and one mistake by the Federal Government in allowing a refugee with a terrorist connection poses a major safety threat to our people”.
But that’s still too many according to Republican presidential candidates, members of Congress and more than a dozen mostly Republican state governors who demanded a halt Monday. Cory A. Booker, in turn called rejecting people fleeing crisis “an insult” to our history. “It belies who we are as a nation”, Booker said.
Under the House legislation, no refugees from war-torn Iraq or Syria could enter the United States until several top-level USA security officials verify that they do not imperil national security.
Ryan called for a pause in Obama’s program, announced in September, to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in a year. Most came within the past year.
Pennsylvania has received 161, among the top 10 states nationwide, with most first resettling in Allentown and Erie.
New Jersey has received 92.
JAMES COMEY: My concern there is that there are certain gaps they don’t want to talk about publicly in that – in the data available to us. They say they’ve tried to strike a balance in the bill, noting it would not limit refugees based on their religion. And Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, who is Jewish, invoked the story of the St. Louis, the boat filled with Jewish refugees from Germany that was turned away by the US (and Canada) in 1939.
The attacks focused the spotlight in Washington on national security with the November 2016 presidential election campaign heating up and Obama in the final year of his presidency. In a sign of just how much the issue is resonating, Salmon, who frequently votes against spending bills said he was open to voting for the funding bill even if it included money for Planned Parenthood and Obamacare if it did include provisions directed at the refugee program.
Meanwhile 11 percent of those surveyed said they would favor a limited program to accept Syrian Christians but exclude Muslims. “It’s just insane. Taking these people is absolutely insanity”. “They have been through extensive verification and are no different from any group that needs our care and compassion”. The confab gave GOPers an easy platform to one-up each other in linking the attacks to Obama’s refugee push before the details were fully known. It takes an average of 18 to 24 months to pass through the screening.
Syrian refugees go through a higher level of screening, the officials said, speaking on the condition they not be named. The administration says half of those who have been admitted are children and about a quarter of them are adults over 60. Two percent are males “of combat age”.
“I can not think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than a few of the rhetoric thats been coming out of here during the course of this debate”, he said, referring to another name for Islamic State.
The officials sought to cast doubt on any governor’s legal ability to stem the flow of refugees – they are protected under federal law – though one said, “We do not want to send refugees anywhere where they would not be welcomed”.
Toomey’s Democratic counterpart from Pennsylvania, Sen.
Republicans said the bill contained no religious tests for the refugees – a split from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. States do not get to overrule the federal government on matters such as this one.
“Now that has to be reformed”, he said. Other governors, mostly Democrats, have said Syrians are welcome.
Given this imbalance, it would not be surprising to find Republican-led states ending up with more refugees overall than Democratic-led states.
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The nine groups are the Church World Service, the Ethiopian Community Development Council, Episcopal Migration Ministries, HIAS, the worldwide Rescue Committee, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, and World Relief.
