Republicans Ask for Pause in Refugees Coming From ‘Terrorist Hotbeds’

Rep. Brian Babin (R., Texas) and 36 other lawmakers are asking House leadership to use appropriations legislation to put a pause on refugees coming from “terrorist hotbeds” until appropriate screening measures are put in place.

The lawmakers wrote a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), and Rep. Hal Rogers (R., Ky.), who chairs the Appropriations Committee, asking for the inclusion of provisions in the fiscal year 2017 continuing resolution that would put a moratorium on refugees coming from Syria, the Middle East, and North Africa until the U.S. government can properly screen them and congressional oversight of the refugee program is boosted.

“In the aftermath of the attacks by radical Islamist jihadists in Paris, San Bernardino, Brussels, Nice, Germany, Istanbul, and Orlando, the American people have become increasingly wary of the massive refugee influx from terrorist hot spots, the inability to conduct proper security screening of these individuals, and the serious national security concerns this raises for the American people,” the lawmakers wrote Thursday.

They also alleged that Obama’s push to allow for the entry of 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States in the current fiscal year despite concerns from administration and national security officials “indicates that national security concerns are being set aside in order to meet arbitrary policy goals.”

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