Paris Terror Attacks Prompt Debate About Resettling Syrian Refugees
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The deadly terrorist attacks in Paris have led some to call for blocking Syrian refugees from resettling in the U.S., while others have called for America to welcome migrants from the war-torn Middle Eastern country with open arms.
U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said, Paris notwithstanding, she is sticking by her call to resettle at least 200,000 refugees, but she agreed there should be close screening of those migrants.
"We should have greater confidence in our intelligence services. I certainly do, and I want to make sure that we work with our intelligence community to make sure that we are able to identify who the terrorists are," she said.
According to published reports, one of the attackers in Paris was a refugee from Syria. At least 129 people were killed in a string of shootings and bombings in Paris on Monday, and authorities have said the mastermind of the operation, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, is a Belgian citizen of Moroccan descent who is fighting with the Islamic State in Syria.
Some elected officials have suggested refusing any more Syrian refugees into the U.S., and several Republican governors – including Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner – have suspended the resettlement of Syrian refugees into their states after the Paris attacks.
"Our nation and our state have a shared history of providing safe haven for those displaced by conflict, but the news surrounding the Paris terror attacks reminds us of the all-too-real security threats facing America. We must find a way to balance our tradition as a state welcoming of refugees while ensuring the safety and security of our citizens. Therefore, the state of Illinois will temporarily suspend accepting new Syrian refugees and consider all of our legal options pending a full review of our country's acceptance and security processes by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security," Rauner said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel seemed to downplay the governor's declaration when he was asked about it while he was at at the French Consulate paying his and the city's condolences for the terrorist bloodbath last weekend in Paris.
"Security and our values go hand-in-hand," Emanuel said. "The United States government is in a vetting process but our values are one in which we remind ourselves that we are an open, welcoming society."
Suzanne Akhras, the founder of the Syrian Community Network, says she is "disappointed" by Rauner's decision.
"I'd like to ask him, what's his story?" Akhras said. "How did his parents or his grandparents come to the United States? What kind of conflict did they escape?"
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Akhras says refugees from Syria who are here now have undergone a year and a half of questioning by U-S authorities.
"We should trust the system that we built," she said. "The U.S. has a very strong vetting process."
Akhras says there are about 16 Syrian refugee families in the Chicago area right now. That's about 70 people. And she says they started arriving about a year ago.
U.S. Rep. Michael Quigley (D-Ill.) disagreed with that strategy.
"You know, I don't know how to address how people will react; different elected officials, or people running for president. The fact of the matter is this is an ongoing crisis taking place where hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake. Obviously, Europe is taking the brunt of this, and we have greater capability in the United States for addressing this situation," he said.
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Duckworth, who is running in the Democratic primary to challenge U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk next year, said – as a new mother – she's moved by the fact 20 percent of the refugees from Syria are children.
"ISIS is a real threat. They must be destroyed, and we need to commit to destroying them," she said. "On the other hand, I can't imagine somebody telling me today, 'Tammy, you go home. You take baby Abigail, and only the things that you can carry, and you walk across an entire continent with her. And when you get to the sea, you find a rubber dingy and you put her in it, because that is safer than where she is right now.' And half of an entire nation has had to do this."
However, Kirk's office has cited reports that federal officials feel there are gaps in the screening of Syrian refugees.
"The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and FBI Director James Comey have cautioned that terrorist infiltration of Syrian refugees is possible based on our limited ability screen all Syrian refugees," Kirk said in a statement. "No refugee related to the Syrian crisis should be admitted to the United States unless the Administration can guarantee, with 100 percent assurance, that they are not members, supporters, or sympathizers of ISIS."
Speaking to reporters in Turkey, President Barack Obama said the U.S. would continue to accept more refugees from Syria, though "only after subjecting them to rigorous screening and security checks."
"Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values," he said. "Our nations can welcome refugees who are desperately seeking safety and ensure our own security. We can and must do both."
Obama also blasted politicians who have suggested the U.S. accept only Christian refugees fleeing Syria. While not naming any of the Republican presidential candidates specifically, he noted some political leaders have benefited from America's willingness to accept refugees. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who is running for the GOP nomination, is the son of a Cuban refugee.
"When I hear folks say that, well, maybe we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims, when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who's fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that's shameful. That's not American. That's not who we are. We don't have religious tests to our compassion," the president said.
An estimated 85,000 total refugees are expected to be resettled in the U.S. in 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sept. 20.
