Last updated on: 3/10/2016 1:26:15 PM PST
Should the United States Allow Syrian Refugees into the Country?
Pro (Yes)
Pro
"We cannot allow terrorists to intimidate us into abandoning our values and humanitarian obligations. Turning away orphans, applying a religious test, discriminating against Muslims, slamming the door on every single Syrian refugee—that's just not who we are. We are better than that.
Remember, many of these refugees are fleeing the same terrorists who threaten us. It would be a cruel irony indeed if ISIS can force families from their homes and then also prevent them from finding new ones...
America's open, free, tolerant society is described by some as a vulnerability in the struggle against terrorism. But I actually believe it's one of our greatest strengths. It reduces the appeal of radicalism and enhances the richness and resilience of our communities."
Source: Elizabeth Chan, “Hillary Clinton Just Showed Why Defeating ISIS and Welcoming Syrian Refugees Aren't Opposing Ideas,” hillaryclinton.com, Nov. 19, 2015
Pro
“Reason[.com]: What would your refugee policy toward Syria be?
Johnson: We need to take our share, and I'm not sure what that share should be. I'd like to come up with a formula based on our coalition partners. I wouldn't say zero, but I don't know if 65,000 puts us in the category of 'our fair share.'"
Source: Anthony L. Fisher, "Exclusive: Gary Johnson Talks ISIS, Refugees, Black Lives Matter and Marijuana Legislation," reason.com, Nov. 19, 2015
Pro
"We have refugees streaming out of Syria and Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya and what do these countries have in common? These were disasters produced largely by U.S. policy. It's very critical that we stop forcing people into becoming refugees and at the same time we must deal with the refugee crisis. This is why we say we have to have a foreign policy based on international law and human rights. We cannot simply wash our hands of the mess that we have made, nor can we wash our hands of our responsibility as a member of society...
There are refugee associations calling on the U.S. to accept, I believe, 100,000 (Syrians) and that's the figure we need to be talking about. And we need to put out the welcome mat and, I would say, this is with regard to the refugees who are already in the country as well -- the refugees from Latin America that we are holding in detention centers."
Source: Charles Davis, "US Presidential Candidate Jill Stein: I Want to Be President to Save the World," telesurtv.net, Nov. 3, 2015
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Con (No)
Now Con
"We have no idea who these people [Syrian refugees] are, we are the worst when it comes to paperwork... This could be one of the great Trojan horses... We cannot let them into this country, period. Our country has tremendous problems. We can't have another problem."
Source: Tal Kopan, "Donald Trump: Syrian Refugees a 'Trojan Horse,'" www.cnn.com, Nov. 16, 2015
[Editor's Note: Trump previously expressed a PRO opinion on this question. Read Trump's former position on Syrian refugees]
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FORMER CANDIDATES
(Candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria appear below in black and white and in alphabetical order.)
Pro (Yes)
Pro
"The concern about terrorists trying to take advantage of our refugee resettlement program is not new. That is the reason we have in place what is probably the most thorough and comprehensive refugee screening process of any country in the world. It involves more than a dozen steps and can take up to two years.
Every single refugee candidate completes an extensive interview with Department of Homeland Security officials. The process is so stringent that those wishing to do us harm will almost certainly pursue an alternative route into America. None of the 9/11 terrorists came to America as refugees.
Several months ago, I became the first presidential candidate to say the United States should welcome 65,000 Syrian refugees next year. I have personally met with Syrian refugees who fled the same type of violence that engulfed Paris on Friday [Nov. 13, 2015].
Keeping America safe and providing refuge to those fleeing death and destruction is not a zero-sum choice. France is showing the world that it is strong enough to overcome fear and remain true to its values. We need to do the same."
Source: Martin O'Malley, "America's Moral Obligation to Syrian Refugees: We Can Simultaneously Protect the Nation and Live up to Its Highest Values," nydailynews.com, Nov. 19, 2015
Pro
"We must not allow the horrific violence we have seen in France and elsewhere to turn us from our historic role as a haven for the oppressed.
In terms of the Syrian refugee situation we are now facing, now is not the time for us to succumb to racism and bigotry…
When hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything and have nothing left but the shirts on their backs, we should not turn our backs on these refugees escaping violence in the Middle East…
Syrians and other refugees from the Middle East are escaping unspeakable horrors. To get to our country, refugees already go through a vigorous vetting program by the FBI, National Counterterrorism Center, Homeland Security and the State Department. The process takes almost two years and refugees from Syria face additional scrutiny.
We should continue our program to provide Syrians fleeing violence with the opportunity for a new life. I hope you’ll join me to stand together to admit Syrian refugees."
Source: Bernie Sanders, "Bernie Sanders: Sign My Petition to Welcome 10,000 Syrian Refugees," thebernreport.com, Nov. 20, 2015
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Con (No)
Con
"Given the tragedy in Paris last Friday [Nov. 13, 2015], the U.S. simply cannot, should not and must not accept any Syrian refugees. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has pledged that the U.S. would accept an additional 45,000 new refugees, mostly from Syria, from 2016 to 2017. This must not happen. Instead of half talk and feel-good promises, the U.S. must defend itself with sound security measures."
Source: Ben Carson, "Ben Carson: The U.S. Must Not Accept Any Syrian Refugees," time.com, Nov. 17, 2015
Con
"The threat posed to New Jersey by ISIS is very real. I write to inform you [President Obama] that I will not accept any refugees from Syria in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Paris...
I urge you to halt your plans to accept more Syrian refugees in the United States. I have no doubt that ISIS will try to exploit American humanitarianism to expose Americans to similar deadly risk. Instead, the United States should channel the compassionate urge to protect innocent lives to encouraging our allies in the region to accept these refugees with our support."
Source: Chris Christie, Letter to President Obama, nj.com, Nov. 17, 2015
Now Con
"The self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, has emerged as the new face of the radical terror that has bedeviled the West in recent decades...
Given the existential nature and scope of the threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism, the limitations on our ability to screen the flood of refugees, and the obligations of our government to provide for the safety and security of all Americans, we simply cannot accept refugees from countries that have a significant terrorist presence until the terrorist threat has been eliminated...
This is why I have introduced the Terrorist Refugee Infiltration Prevention Act of 2015. This constitutionally sound, common-sense measure would immediately bar any refugee who is from any country that contains territory controlled in substantial part by ISIS, al Qaeda, or any other designated foreign terrorist organization ascribing to the radical, totalitarian Islamism dedicated to the destruction of the United States and our allies, and whose proponents find anyone who does not share their faith—from couples dining in cafes to Jews shopping in a kosher market to satirical cartoonists—equally offensive."
Source: Ted Cruz, "Why the Terrorist Refugee Infiltration Prevention Act of 2015 Is Necessary," washingtontimes.com, Nov. 19, 2015
[Editor's Note: Cruz previously expressed a PRO opinion on this question. Read Cruz's former position on Syran refutees.]
Con
"Of course we are a compassionate people. But the vast majority of refugees leaving Syria are able-bodied young men. And our own government has told us that we cannot properly vet these people. So of course we cannot be letting them in. And that is not because we're prejudiced against Muslims, it's because we care about our own safety and security and that's why 25 governors have stood up and said, 'We're not accepting any refugees.' Good for them. We cannot until we can assure the American people that every single one of these refugees can be properly vetted."
Source: Mike Gallagher podcast, "Fiorina: Tens of Thousands of American Troops Is NOT the Only Option," mikeonline.com, Nov. 17, 2015
Now Con
"The one thing I've learned from Paris is that we need to have a timeout on bringing refugees into this country until we have a system that we think will work. So I'm calling for a timeout on Syrian refugees... I want an away game when it comes to ISIL, not a home game."
Source: Jordain Carney, "Graham Calls for 'Timeout' on Accepting Syrian Refugees," thehill.com, Nov. 16, 2015
[Editor's Note: Graham previously expressed a PRO opinion on this question. Read Graham's former position on Syrian refugees.]
Con
"When Chipotle had an outbreak of E. coli just recently, what did they do? They closed all the Chipotle restaurants. I mean, how many gallons of tainted milk do we tolerate before we say, 'take it off the shelves'? Here's the point. If we take millions of gallons of tainted milk and we close entire restaurants because a few people get sick, does it make any sense that we would say, 'Well, we're gonna bring in tens of thousands of people. We have no idea who they are. We have no idea if they're ISIS members. But we’re going to bring them in because we can handle a few people who are going to bring bomb and shoot up a night club or shoot up a football stadium of people watching high school kids play.' My God, Dana, what have we come to when we don't understand that the number one responsibility of the President of the United States is to protect America, not the image of Islam."
Source: The Blaze, "Governor Mike Huckabee Makes His First Blaze Appearance / Dana," www.youtube.com, Nov. 16, 2015
Now Con
"There is no way that we can put any of our people at risk by bringing people in at this point. You asked a question, should anybody [Syrian refugees] come in here before the end of the year? The answer to that should be no. We cannot jeopardize our people. And so it's not just an issue of the heart. It's also an issue of the head. And, so I hope that the perhaps the Congress can get involved in this and say we're not going to do this...
This is not a matter of compassion. This is not a matter of the heart. This is a matter of judgment and concern about our people inside the United States of America. It's about our families. It's about our neighborhoods. It's about our communities. So, let me be clear, there should be nothing done on this. No more entry into this country at this point in time until a significant amount of time has been invested in who these people are and, if we can't determine who they are, then they can't come in. It's just that simple."
Source: FoxBusiness, "Kasich: We Cannot Jeopardize Our People," video.foxbusiness.com, Nov. 16, 2015
[Editor's Note: Kasich previously expressed a PRO opinion on this question. Read Kasich's former position on Syrian refugees.]
Con
"[W]e have been attacked in the past by refugees or by people posing as refugees. The two Boston bombers were here as refugees. They didn't take very kindly to what we gave them - education, food, clothing, and they chose to attack our country.
In Bowling Green, Kentucky, we had two Iraqi refugees who came through the refugee program, posing as refugees and then promptly decided to buy stinger missiles. Fortunately, they got them from an F.B.I. Agent and we caught them, but when we caught them, we discovered that their fingerprints were already on bomb fragments in Iraq in our database, and yet we had no clue and admitted them anyway…
I don't think we should continue adding people to the rolls of those coming from the Middle East until we absolutely know who is in our country and what their intentions are."
Source: Rand Paul, "FLOOR SPEECH: Sen. Rand Paul Offers Amendment to Block Taxpayer Benefits for New Refugees from High-Risk Countries," paul.senate.gov, Nov. 18, 2015
Now Con
"The problem is we can't background check them. You can't pick up the phone and call Syria. And that's one of the reasons why I said we won't be able to take more refugees. It's not that we don't want to, it's that we can't. Because there's no way to background check someone that’s coming from Syria. Who do you call and do a background check on them?...
In the case of what's happening in Europe, this is a swarm of refugees, and as I've said repeatedly over the last few months, you can have 1,000 people come in, and 999 of them are just poor people fleeing oppression and violence, but one of them is an ISIS fighter. If that's the case, you have a problem, and there is no way to vet that out. There is no background check system in the world that allows us to find that out, because who do you call in Syria to background check them?"
Source: Ian Tuttle, "Rubio's Refugee Reversal Is Good - but Long Overdue," nalreview.com, Nov. 16, 2015
[Editor's Note: Rubio previously expressed a Pro opinion on this question. Read Rubio's former position on the Syrian Refugees]
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Now Not Clearly Pro or Con
"Unfortunately, after the terrorist attacks in Paris, President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have chosen to criticize leaders for raising concerns about the administration’' proposal to bring tens of thousands of refugees into the United States...
The best way for America to show compassion and protect our homeland would be to provide safe zones in Syria and destroy the root causes of the refugee crisis in the region — ISIS and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad...
Given the reports that ISIS seeks to hide among refugees, that at least one of the attackers in Paris may have been a refugee, and bipartisan concerns about the refugee screening process in Congress, the pause in bringing refugees to this country that passed the House of Representatives this week is both sensible and appropriate...
America has a great moral tradition of taking in persecuted peoples throughout the world, and we should not turn our back now.
That is why I've outlined a strategy to address this humanitarian tragedy, protect the Christian and other religious minorities that are being eradicated in the Middle East, defeat the terrorists and Assad, confront Iranian aggression and end this conflict on terms favorable to the United States and its allies. That is a President's job."
Source: Jeb Bush, "Jeb: Presidents Should Lead, Not Lecture," jeb2016.com, Nov. 20, 2015
[Editor's Note: Bush previously expressed a Pro opinion on this question. Read Bush's former position on the Syrian Refugees]
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