House approves tougher refugee screening
Five out of seven Colorado representatives voted in favor of a bill that would effectively stop Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the United States.
The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives with ease Thursday, with almost all Republicans and 47 Democrats voting in favor of it.
The lawmakers want top administration officials to certify that incoming refugees are not a safety threat.
“Don’t you think that common sense dictates that we should take a pause and get this right?” asked House Speaker John Boehner.
Others, including Secretary of State John Kerry, expressed their discomfort with the proposal.
“We’ve had 785,000 refugees come into this country since 2009. I think of that only 12 people were arrested or deported at some point, and none of them attacked anybody in this country,” Kerry said. “So we do not have to lose values in our ability to vet people and to know exactly who they are and where they are coming from.”
The head of the FBI and DHS say the request is too cumbersome and President Barack Obama has promised to veto the bill if it gets past the Senate.
Arshad Yousufi, a spokesman for the Islamic Society of Colorado Springs told KRDO NewsChannel 13 that he worried how the vote would affect America’s image to other countries and to terrorists.
“Are we so afraid of widows and orphans that we’re going to change our laws?” Yousufi asked. “Certainly, I would agree with lawmakers that there needs to be a smarter way to figure out who is a threat and who is not. Yes, improve the procedures, but let’s not compromise the principles.”
Yousufi argued that the vetting process for refugees is already strict and that politicians were merely voting in favor of pausing the refugee process because of a fear-based knee-jerk reaction to the attacks in Paris.
A spokesperson for U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) told KRDO NewsChannel 13 that the senator is currently reviewing the bill and declined to give his stance given the fact that the vote has not yet been scheduled.
Bennet’s office offered the following statement:
“Senator Bennet’s most important priority is keeping American’s safe. We must continue to improve the vetting process so that we are thoroughly and rigorously checking refugees before they are allowed to come to our country. There are other, less secure ways to enter the United States that we also must think about. And as we are being asked to shoulder some of this burden, regional partners like Saudi Arabia need to step up and do more.”
The office of U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) offered the following statement:
“Syria’s refugee crisis will not be resolved until the situation on the ground is stabilized. President Obama must develop a comprehensive strategy to address the developments in Syria and eradicate the threat of ISIS once and for all. We can’t let people into the United States who haven’t gone through a thorough background investigation and vetting process, ensuring that they won’t do harm to our country and its national security. I will continue to closely monitor the Administration’s actions and collaborate with my colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as we work toward the best path forward.”
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