McCrory rejects Syrian refugees in N.C., Rep. Hudson pushes for screening

ROCKINGHAM — After a wave of terror attacks left more than 120 people dead in Paris last week, Richmond County’s congressman wants to put a hold on the Obama administration’s acceptance of 10,000 refugees from war-torn Syria.

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-Concord, introduced a bill — the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act of 2015 — on Monday “to stop the refugee process unless and until Americans can be assured that our government can effectively keep us safe and keep terrorists out.”

“The risk of terrorists slipping undetected into our country is too high,” Hudson said in a Monday statement. “ISIS has vowed to exploit the refugee crisis and it appears they did just that in Paris. I refuse to allow President Obama to open our front door to radical Islamic extremists who are bent on burning down our house.”

Hudson’s bill was used as the foundation for another bill, introduced by Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

The bill, expected to reach a House vote today, would require:

• The FBI director to certify background checks have been completed for all refugees and that the background checks were carried out at the appropriate standard.

• The secretary of homeland security, with unanimous concurrence of the FBI director and the director of national intelligence, to affirm to the appropriate congressional committees that every refugee being admitted is not a security threat.

• An audit of all admitted refugees by the Office of the Inspector General to ensure that the vetting process is working to the appropriate standard.

• A monthly report from the secretary of homeland security to the appropriate congressional committees on the number of refugee applications submitted every month and the number of refugees not admitted and why each refugee was not admitted.

“Our top responsibility is to protect the American people and this commonsense approach is one step necessary to do just that,” Hudson said Wednesday.

“America is a compassionate nation. No country on Earth does more or spends more to care for our fellow man. But being compassionate doesn’t mean we have to have reckless policies that put American lives at risk.”

The White House issued a Wednesday statement saying the president would veto the bill if it reached his desk because it “would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people, instead serving only to create significant delays and obstacles in the fulfillment of a vital program that satisfies both humanitarian and national security objectives,” the Associated Press reports.

Hudson fired back, saying Obama’s veto threat is proof that he is “out of touch.”

“The American people want to be assured that terrorists aren’t exploiting our country’s compassion and posing as refugees,” he said. “I am disappointed the president has issued a veto threat on this commonsense, reasonable bill, and I encourage him to reconsider to keep terrorists out and the American people safe.”

Back in North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory has joined with governors from across the South, Midwest and New England in refusing to accept any more refugees until the security risks are addressed.

“North Carolina has a proud tradition of providing a hand-up for those in need, including international refugees,” McCrory said in a Monday statement. “However, because President Obama has increased the number of refugees from Syria coming into the United States from 2,000 to 10,000 and because of the terrorist attacks in Paris and the very real possibility that one of the terrorists entered France as a recent refugee, I am requesting that the federal government cease sending refugees from Syria to North Carolina.”

McCrory was not satisfied with assurances from the White House following a conference call on Tuesday.

“The president has to understand that concerns of the states are legitimate and need to be addressed,” he said. “Protecting the safety of North Carolina citizens is my top priority. There must be more cooperation, collaboration and communication between the federal government and the states so governors can fulfill their responsibility of keeping our citizens safe and secure.”

According to the Associated Press, the governor said 59 Syrian refugees have come to North Carolina since early 2014 , but the state had almost no security information about them.

The mass refugee refusal movement isn’t without its critics.

Writing at Reason Magazine’s Hit & Run blog, Shikha Dalmia argued that the same logic used in defending gun rights — when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns — could be applied to the Syrian refugees: “If ISIS victims are banned from America, only ISIS will enter.”

“But logic doesn’t seem to be driving the conservative response to the refugee crisis in the wake of the Paris attacks,” Dalmia, a senior analyst with the Reason Foundation, wrote. “Fear and naked politics is.”

Dalmia goes on to outline the 13-step process — which could take up to three years — refugees must go through to be admitted to the U.S.

“To think that ISIS agents will subject themselves to it only to face either rejection or detection or both is patently absurd,” Dalmia concludes. “Simply shutting down the program won’t stop jihadis from finding their way to the United States. It’s their innocent victims who’ll suffer. This won’t make America, the land of the brave and free, any safer — just a whole lot more ashamed of itself when the fear abates and sanity returns.”