“We are facing a crisis of epic proportions”, President Obama told the Leaders Summit on Refugees at the United Nations.
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“When nations with their own internal difficulties find themselves hosting massive refugee populations for years on end, it can risk more instability”.
“We sought a $3 billion increase in global humanitarian financing and commitments to maintain funding in future years”, they said.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz wasted no time highlighting the failings of President Barack Obama’s remarks before the United Nations on Tuesday, where the president called for LESS freedom and to effectively abandon the Constitution in favor of “binding ourselves to worldwide rules”.
“It oftentimes surfaces tensions in our society when we have disorderly and disproportionate migration into some countries that skews our politics and is subject to demagoguery”, he said. “We’re letting people in by the thousands and tens of thousands”.
Opening a summit on refugees at the United Nations, he praised Germany and Canada among other countries that have opened up their doors to those fleeing the war in Syria and other conflicts. The candidate’s son tweeted a provocative image comparing Syrian refugees to poisoned candy.
Ahead of his eighth and final address at the U.N. General Assembly, aides looked back to Obama’s first speech there in 2009, when he laid out a plan to fix the “skepticism and distrust” he believed had built up under President George W. Bush, fueling “reflexive anti-Americanism” that served as an excuse for collective inaction.
“And collectively, we continue to make excuses. We have the potential to close the gap between rich and poor, and to make rights real in people’s lives”, he underscored.
“It’s a test of our worldwide system where all nations ought to share in our collective responsibilities, because the vast majority of refugees are hosted by just 10 countries who are bearing a very heavy burden – among them Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ethiopia”.
“When Iran agrees to accept constraints on its nuclear programme, that enhances global security and enhances Iran’s ability to work with other nations”, he said.
By contrast, Obama’s speech Tuesday reflected a touch of humility in a president who has watched Congress thwart his proposals to close Guantanamo, seen chaos in the wake of the Iraq withdrawal and witnessed the collapse of peace talks. “Not because refugees are a threat”.
He added, however, that after 10 years as the top United Nations official, he is more convinced than ever that we have the power to end war, poverty and persecution.
The UN chief hailed the aid workers on the convoy to Aleppo province as “heroes” and said “those who bombed them were cowards” before calling for accountability for crimes committed in the war.
In September 2015, Obama pledged to increase the total number of refugees allowed to resettle in the U.S.to 85,000 ― up from 70,000 in the last three fiscal years ― and to reserve 10,000 of these spots for Syrians.
Obama also called for more global cooperation especially in helping refugees from war-torn countries – while making only passing reference to the Islamic State and the ever-expanding scourge of like-minded terror groups.
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Washington has said the USA will raise the number of refugees entering the country by 25,000 to 110,000 in the next fiscal year, which begins in October.
