Only 37 Republicans back plan to defund Muslim 'refugees' Texas
congressman calls Obama's influx 'clear and present danger', by Leo Hohmann,
9/20/16
Muslim
refugees from the Middle East and Africa have poured into Europe over the past
two years and President Obama says the U.S. needs to take more.
Only 37
Republican congressmen have signed on to a Texas lawmaker’s effort to eliminate
funding for all refugees being sent to the U.S. from terrorist hotbeds like
Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
U.S. Rep.
Brian Babin, R-Texas, told WND Tuesday the attacks in Minnesota, New York and
New Jersey over the weekend, combined with earlier attacks by Muslim immigrants
or sons of immigrants on Orlando, San Bernardino and Chattanooga, have created
a “clear and present danger” that Congress must address. Especially since the
sitting president, Barack Obama, refuses not only to stem the flow of Muslim
refugees but has been on a crusade to increase that flow before he leaves
office in January.
Yet, when
he tried last week to muster support for legislation that would do just that,
Babin found very little support among his own Republican colleagues in
Congress.
Refugees
bound for the U.S. are selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, then screened by federal agents for ties to formal terrorist
organizations like ISIS or al-Qaida, but without any questions about their
loyalty to Shariah law.
That’s
why Babin invited all 247 Republicans in the House to sign a letter calling for
language to be inserted into an upcoming budget resolution that would cut
funding for U.N. refugees coming to America from countries with active jihadist
movements.
Babin
could find only 36 congressmen who would sign his letter, which he sent on
Sept. 15 to Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who are
negotiating the so-called “continuing resolution” to fund the government for
another three months.
“It may
be the latter part of the week before we reach a vote on the resolution. I
don’t know the time table. I just know this is our only chance to get included
things that are such a crisis for our country and especially this refugee
program,” Babin told WND.
The
terrorist attacks on Minnesota, New York and New Jersey over the weekend make
the issue even more critical, he said.
“My
letter would stop the intake from the Middle East and North Africa and
eliminate funding to bring those in,” he said. Babin
isn’t the only one getting worried about the rising number of refugees coming
terror hot spots.
NumbersUSA, one of the largest immigration watchdog
groups, sent out an email alert Tuesday calling for a moratorium on all
resettlements from these danger zones.
As Babin
was discussing his plan with WND to keep radical Islamists out of the U.S.,
President Obama spoke before the United Nations global refugee summit in
New York, trying to convince the West to accept more refugees fleeing wars in
the Middle East. He called on leaders not to give up on “global integration”
and turn to isolationist policies.
Read President Obama’s full speech
before the U.N. Eleven
times during Obama’s last address to the U.N. he talked down the United States.
Babin’s
letter calls for continuing to send aid to struggling refugees, which he says
should be placed in safe zones in the Middle East until the wars and conflicts
are over.
Video:
Paris attacks intensify US migrant debate
‘First
duty is to citizens of my country’
“The
Democrats and those who think we’re uncompassionate, the last part of my letter
addresses that saying we would continue to supply aid to the safe zones and
continue helping these people. But my first duty is to the citizens of my
country and my district, and the president should have that same philosophy and
duty. Yet he continues to endanger our kids and grandkids,” Babin said. “Let me
tell him something,” he added. “I have grandkids, and that’s the duty we have:
to protect them first. That’s the first duty of our government, Mr. President.”
The
Republican-controlled Congress has the power to cut the purse strings on the
refugee flow coming from jihadist-friendly countries, but it shows no signs of
doing so. Freedom
Caucus can’t muster votes against refugees Even
among the members of the House Freedom Caucus, whose roster includes the most
conservative members of the Republican majority, only 18 of the 41 caucus members
signed on to the Babin plan to cut funding.
“At least
these people should have been on our side,” said refugee watchdog Ann Corcoran,
who blogs at RefugeeResttlementWatch.org. “It’s maddening, unless they are
getting some kind of money, from the Chamber of Commerce or somebody.”
Freedom
Caucus members who have not signed Babin’s letter are as follows:
Jim
Jordan of Ohio, Chair
Justin
Amash of Michigan
Rod Blum
of Iowa
Ken Buck
of Colorado
Curt
Clawson of Florida
Ron
DeSantis of Florida
John
Fleming of Louisiana
Trent
Franks of Arizona
Scott
Garrett of New Jersey
Paul
Gosar of Arizona
Morgan
Griffith of Virginia
Raúl
Labrador of Idaho
Alex
Mooney of West Virginia
Mick
Mulvaney of South Carolina
Gary
Palmer of Alabama
Steve
Pearce of New Mexico
Scott Perry
of Pennsylvania
Ted Poe
of Texas
Bill
Posey of Florida
Keith
Rothfus of Pennsylvania
Mark
Sanford of South Carolina
David
Schweikert of Arizona
Marlin
Stutzman of Indiana
The 17
Freedom Caucus members who have joined with Babin, also a caucus member, to
sign the letter to Ryan are as follows: Dave Brat of Virginia, Jim Bridenstine
of Oklahoma, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Scott DesJarlais of
Tennessee, Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Andy Harris
of Maryland, Jody Hice of Georgia, Walter Jones of North Carolina, Steve King
of Iowa, Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Mark Meadows
of North Carolina, Matt Salmon of Arizona, Randy Weber of Texas and Ted Yoho of
Florida.
Obama
officials refuse to testify before Senate refugee hearing
Sen. Jeff
Sessions, R-Ala., also expressed frustration Tuesday, issuing a terse statement condemning the Obama
administration for refusing to testify before his subcommittee this week on the
refugee crisis, electing instead to attend the U.N. refugee summit in New York.
“Despite
having sufficient notice of a statutorily required hearing regarding its plans
for the Refugee Admissions Program in Fiscal Year 2017, the Obama
Administration has once again elected to subordinate both its relationship with
Congress and the legitimate concerns of the American people to advance the
agenda of the United Nations,” Sessions said in the statement.
“The
Department of State claims that not one official is available to appear at
tomorrow’s scheduled hearing due to this week’s United Nations General Assembly
and Summit for Refugees and Migrants,” Sessions added. “The Departments of
Homeland Security and Health and Human Services have also refused to attend
tomorrow’s hearing in a strange display of bureaucratic solidarity with the
Department of State’s indefensible decision. The American people deserve
explanations about the Administration’s reckless plans to admit 110,000
refugees beginning on October 1, 2016. They demand that their leaders end the
lawlessness and abuses in the Refugee Admissions Program, and that their
leaders place the safety and security of this country first.”
Corcoran
said Sessions has every right to be angry. “For
these folks to refuse to testify is abominable,” she said. “And here’s the
thing: They don’t want to testify because they don’t want to be asked questions
about these refugee terrorists [in Minnesota and New York].”
The
continuing resolution being negotiated by Ryan this week will fund the
government from Oct. 1 to the end of the year in the absence of a formal
budget. It’s a small budget battle on the path to what will likely be a larger
battle in December. Last year, Congress ended up passing a massive $1.1
trillion omnibus budget bill in December that fully funded all of Obama’s
refugee resettlement plans for 2016.
“Even if
he loses this battle, Congressman Babin is educating Congress and the public
and setting the table for a huge battle in December if Trump is elected,” said
Corcoran.
Babin’s
effort comes just as President Obama is ramping up his resettlement plans,
trying to get as many refugees into the country before his term ends and get
Congress locked into a plan that funds even more refugees through next year
after he’s gone from the White House.
Obama has
upped the number of refugees bound for the U.S. to 110,000 in fiscal 2017,
which begins Oct. 1. That’s up from 85,000 in 2016 and 70,000 in 2015.
According to a report in the Reno Journal Gazette, the administration is
planning to open 47 new refugee resettlement offices in cities nationwide with
Reno just one of the 47.
This
weekend’s terrorist attacks in Minnesota and New York were both carried out by
Muslim immigrants, a Somali refugee in Minnesota and an Afghan asylum seeker
living in New Jersey. Both entered the U.S. as small children and grew up to
become terrorists.
The knife
attack on the Crossroads Center Mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota, injured 10
shoppers, one critically, and the pipe bombing in New York City injured 29.
Another bombing in New Jersey was foiled.
But even
with the growing threat, getting the GOP-controlled Congress to act on cutting
funding has been a slow, tough slog, Babin told WND.
“We’re
working hard to see if we can make some headway on our refugee situation, and
it’s getting pretty spooky,” he said, referring to this weekend’s series of
attacks. “We sent our request to all 247 Republicans. The letter was turned in
last Thursday [to Speaker Ryan] with 37 signatures including myself. I just
wonder how many more would have signed on if we had turned it in this week?”
Babin
said he did not seek Democrat support for his proposal because he could not get
any of them interested in his bill last year that called for halting all
refugee resettlement until a full audit of the program could be conducted. That
bill had 80 Republican co-sponsors but stalled when Paul Ryan refused to let it
out of committee. Ryan instead engineered what many called a “show vote” on a
much weaker bill, the American SAFE Act, sponsored by Rep. Richard Hudson,
R-N.C.
Babin
said he hasn’t heard from any more members of Congress, Republican or Democrat,
wanting to sign on to his letter in the wake of this weekend’s attacks.
“This is
a clear and present danger. But no, I have not heard from them. This whole refugee,
open borders, asylum seeker, the massive visa programs, sanctuary cities, it’s
all tied together,” Babin told WND. “We now have reports, there’s been an
intelligence release, where our Southern Command said there are Sunni
extremists coming across our southern border and they are paying human
traffickers to bring them in.”
Screen Muslims
for allegiance to Shariah Babin said he doesn’t have anything against Muslims,
but the U.S. government should not be bringing in those who have a commitment
to Shariah law or jihad.
“I don’t
have anything against Muslims in general but I do have a problem with those who
don’t assimilate and put Shariah ahead of our Constitution and yet want to come
to our country and those who radicalize and want to do us harm,” Babin said.
“Those are the ones we have to weed out.”
Babin
said the task of “weeding out” is virtually impossible when dealing with
refugees from countries like Syria and Somalia where chaos rules due to years
of civil strife and war.
“All
three of our national security people – FBI Director James Comey, Director of
National Intelligence James Clapper and DHS Director Jeh Johnson – have warned
Congress we can’t screen these people,” Babin said. “We have quotes from all
three of them in 2015 saying we really have a problem because they can’t
sufficiently vet and screen these people. And in spite of that, the president
has brought in over 11,000 Syrians, and then next year he wants to bring in
even more, 110,000 refugees from around the world.” About half of the 110,000
would come from Muslim-dominated countries.
Look at
Europe. “He wants to plus it up, and it’s an absolute clear and present danger.
All you have to do is look at what’s happening in Europe with the unchecked
influx of migrants and refugees. And look at what happened in Nice. Look at
Brussels and Paris and then, hey, look at what’s happened here in Orlando and
just this past weekend,” Babin said.
Even if
it were possible to vet the adults, how does the U.S. government vet children
like Dahir Adan, the Minnesota Muslim and mall attacker who entered the U.S. at
the age of 2 from a U.N. refugee camp in Kenya, only to grow up and become a
terrorist?
“You
can’t,” Babin told WND. “The proof is in the pudding because we’ve seen the
children come in and then radicalize. We can see the whole problem in Europe
where they have not assimilated, and they put Shariah ahead of their nations’
laws, and then they radicalize. We don’t know who these people are. We don’t
have a handle on it, and then the president wants to continue to bring in even
more.”
Babin
also lamented Hillary Clinton’s vow to step up refugee resettlement from Syria
well beyond even Obama’s increases. She has said she’d like to bring in 65,000
Syrians.
“This is
the most astounding thing to bring in 65,000 her first year. This is playing
right into the hands of Donald Trump. This is, I think, how he got to where he
is today, by emphasizing immigration as Obama and Mrs. Clinton are just
fiddling while Rome burns.
“That’s
the bottom line: They’re fiddling, and it doesn’t matter what the facts are,
not to them. It’s amazing that we would be so willfully blind to allow the same
thing that’s happening in Western Europe to happen over here,” Babin said “As
we speak, Obama’s at a U.N. summit trying to talk about taking in even more
refugees. It’s just amazing how the elite media and political class is all out
to get Trump, as if he’s caused all of these problems. He’s caused none of
them. He’s an outsider, and that’s his greatest appeal.”
Babin
said Hillary Clinton’s most used claim for being qualified as president is
turning into her greatest weakness. “Mrs.
Clinton has always said her greatest qualification is her steady hand of
experience, but 70 percent think this country is going in the wrong direction
and her steady hand is steering us in the absolute wrong direction of where
that 70 percent of Americans want to see it go.” ‘Political correctness is
getting people killed’
Babin
also chastised Obama for refusing to use the word “terrorist” and “radical
Islam” in the wake of each new terror attack. “Political correctness is what’s
getting people killed,” he said. “It’s what keeps us from doing what needs to
be done when it needs to be done.
“It’s
like you look at your neighbor’s home and it’s on fire, and you’ve got to get
to him and help him because he’s asleep. America is asleep, and its house is
absolutely on fire. We have to get the word out about this.”
http://www.wnd.com/2016/09/only-37-republicans-back-plan-to-defund-muslim-refugees/
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