WND EXCLUSIVE
TEXAS WARNS OBAMA: NO SYRIAN REFUGEES HERE!
Joins other states in refusing plan to flood U.S. with 10,000 Muslims
Leo Hohmann
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has become the latest governor to go on the record in no uncertain terms – telling President Obama his state will not accept anymore refugees from Syria in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.
The governors of Michigan and Alabama came out with similar statements Sunday, and the governor of Arkansas tweeted Monday that he is closing his state to Syrian refugees.
But Texas is a huge domino in the federal government’s refugee resettlement system.
Texas was on the receiving end of more foreign refugees than any other state in fiscal 2014, according to government databases. The refugees are hand-selected by the United Nations and vetted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in cooperation with the FBI, but the FBI has warned it is unable to screen the Syrians for possible connections to terrorist entities.
Obama came out Monday and said he will not back down from his plans to send 10,000 Syrians from U.N. refugee camps directly to nearly 180 cities and towns across America.
Texas was in line to receive a significant number of the 10,000 Syrians that Obama has told the U.N. he will accept over the next year.
Since the Syrian civil war broke out, the U.S. has accepted nearly 2,000 Syrian refugees but after the attack on Paris by ISIS and the discovery that at least one of the eight attackers entered Europe as refugee, governors are beginning to take a harder stance on refugees.
“Governor Abbott has just released a statement and a copy of a letter to President Obama, confirming that Texas will not be accepting any refugees from Syria,” Abbott’s press spokesman, Sam Taylor, told WND.
“Additionally, Governor Abbott has urged the president not to accept more Syrian Refugees in the United States out of concern over the federal government’s inadequate screening methods for incoming migrants.”
His office emailed a release to WND that reads as follows:
“Governor Greg Abbott today sent a letter to President Barack Obama informing him that the State of Texas will not accept any refugees from Syria in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Paris. Furthermore, Governor Abbott implored President Obama to halt his plans to accept more Syrian refugees in the United States entirely, as the federal government does not have the background information necessary to effectively conduct proper security checks on Syrian nationals.“Given the tragic attacks in Paris and the threats we have already seen, Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees – any one of whom could be connected to terrorism – being resettled in Texas,” Governor Abbott said in the letter. “Effective today, I am directing the Texas Health & Human Services Commission’s Refugee Resettlement Program to not participate in the resettlement of any Syrian refugees in the State of Texas. And I urge you, as President, to halt your plans to allow Syrians to be resettled anywhere in the United States.”“Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity. As such, opening our door to them irresponsibly exposes our fellow Americans to unacceptable peril.”
Michigan, Alabama, reverse course on refugees
Michigan’s GOP Gov. Rick Snyder had been among the most welcoming of all governors when it came to refugees and especially Syrian refugees.
He was a huge supporter of the Syrian refugee program and had offered to take at least 5,000 Syrians.
On Nov. 3 Hamtramck, a city of 22,000 on the outskirts of Detroit, became the nation’s first city to have a Muslim-majority city council, as WND reported. Most of the city’s Muslim community came as immigrants from Yemen, Bosnia and Bangladesh.
But Snyder came out Sunday and told the Detroit Free Press that he has decided to “suspend” the program in his state. He had earlier said he wanted to “rebuild” some of the most downtrodden sections of Detroit by repopulating with Syrian refugees.
Gov. Robert Bentley of Alabama also said Sunday his state would not take any Syrian refugees, although that state was never a major destination for foreign refugees to begin with.
Texas Gov. deals major blow to Obama plan
Texas, however, has dealt a major blow to the federal government’s refugee program because it is second to California in the number refugees taken in.
President Obama, seeing the growing backlash, spoke in a press conference Monday and said he was doubling down on his Syrian refugee program. He defended the program saying it was “not American” to refuse the Syrian refugees. He said there could not be a “religious test for our compassion.”
Of the Syrians accepted into the U.S. so far, 97 percent have been Muslim with only 3 percent Christian or Yazidi.
Obama said it was “shameful” that America would turn away these Muslims. “We don’t discriminate against people because of their faith.”
Nikki Haley still on the fence
Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina has also been under intense pressure from residents in her state to halt the refugee program in her state. So far she has not budged in her support for the program. As WND reported last week, three counties have already told Haley they will not accept any refugees for resettlement and several other county councils are getting ready to vote on similar measures.
Here are the states that have received the most foreign refugees in fiscal 2014, according to U.S. State Department data:
Texas, 7,2011
California, 6,110
New York, 4,079
Michigan, 4,000
Florida, 3,519
Arizona, 2,963
Ohio, 2,812
Pennsylvania, 2,743
Georgia, 2,693
Illinois, 2,578
Bill in Congress would halt all resettlement
Rep. Brian Babin has introduced a bill, HR 3314, in the House of Representatives that would halt the entire program nationwide. It has 46 co-sponsors and the attack on Paris is likely to garner more support for the bill.
FBI Director James Comey has warned Congress in testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee last month, that it’s impossible to vet the backgrounds of Syrian refugees. They are coming from a failed state embroiled in a four-year-old civil war and the U.S. has no access to data on any the refugees, Comey said.
An ISIS operative told BuzzFeed in February that ISIS already had 4,000 trained fighters infiltrated into Europe as refugees and ready to be activated at a moment’s notice.
In the U.S., the FBI confirmed it has nearly 1,000 active ISIS investigations in all 50 states.
The governors of Alabama and Michigan said Sunday that they would not resettle any refugees from Syria in their states, amid reports that at least one of the Paris attackers slipped through Europe’s immigration system and concerns about “gaping holes” impacting America’s screening process.
In Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population, Gov. Rick Snyder said he was putting his prior calls for the state to accept more refugees on hold until the Department of Homeland Security reviewed its screening procedures.
“Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration,” Snyder said in a statement. “But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents.”
The governor later added, “It’s also important to remember that these attacks are the efforts of extremists and do not reflect the peaceful ways of people of Middle Eastern descent here and around the world.”
But as many, such as presidential candidate Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have pointed out, it would only take a few terrorists to slip through and conduct an operation that kills dozens or even hundreds of Americans.
The Detroit Free Press reported that between 1,800 and 2,000 refugees had been resettled in Michigan over the past year and that approximately 200 of those were from Syria.
In a statement, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said he reached his decision “[a]fter full consideration of this weekend’s attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris … I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way.”
State officials said that no Syrian refugees have been relocated in Alabama to date, though some have been processed by neighboring states. According to the statement, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is working diligently with federal agencies to monitor any possible threats. To date there has been no credible intelligence of terror threats in Alabama.
On Saturday, Louisiana governor and Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindal raised concerns about Syrian refugees who have entered the U.S. in recent months, particularly those in his home state.
“Louisiana has been kept in the dark about those seeking refuge in the state,” Jindal wrote in a letter to Obama. “It is irresponsible and severely disconcerting to place individuals, who may have ties to ISIS, in a state without the state’s knowledge or involvement. … As governor of Louisiana, I demand information.”
On Sunday, the State Department told New Orleans’ WWL-TV that 14 Syrians had been resettled in Louisiana.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/texas-warns-obama-no-syrian-refugees-here/#4DOdax8REaV0kWwx.99My comments: Islam is is an Evil, anti-Christ Religion based on the Koran that Incites Violence against Everyone, including its own.
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