I’m glad to see 2016 Presidential candidate and US Senator Rand Paul annoying the Left as Mediaite reports here.
See our post yesterday where we pointed out that a couple of years ago Paul was an outspoken critic of the program, then had gone underground on the topic. I guess he is back and his comments about welfare are important.
The Kentucky Iraqi terrorists were “vetted” refugees, but watch for the NO Borders crowd to say that the Tsarnaev (Boston Bomber) brothers were not “refugees.”
Before I get to the news I want to reiterate that those who enter the US either legally or illegally, request asylum, and then are granted political asylum (become asylees) are just as much refugees as those we fly in. Our present asylum process is also a result of the Refugee Act of 1980 and once someone is granted political asylum they are eligible for all the perks of those we have flown in. They can also seek out the ‘services’ of the nine major federal resettlement contractors.
But, as the issue continues to cause controversy, the Leftwing agitators will continue to try to cause confusion in the public mind.
Here is Mediaite on Paul (emphasis is mine):
The Republican presidential candidate said the refugee screening process is “absolutely not” rigorous enough to allow migrants into the United States. “The fact that we had two Iraqi refugees posing as refugees come into our country and want to attack us with stinger missiles shows that it wasn’t, and I don’t believe still is, very rigorous,” he said.
“The Boston bombers came here as refugees,” Paul noted. “We coddled them, we gave them free stuff, we gave them free housing, and yet, they decided to attack us, so there’s a great risk.”
Despite accusations that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev moved to the United States through the refugee program, the family never applied for refugee status to gain entry into the country. Instead, their family arrived on a six-month visa and applied for political asylum once they were in the United States. [You see how the Left spins this, they are just as much refugees as those we have flown in—ed]
“It’s a mistake for the Obama administration to downplay the risk,” Paul said, adding he fought the Obama administration “all week in the Senate and I promise you this battle’s not over.”
Last week, Paul introduced a bill to put a moratorium on U.S. visas for refugees; in a speech to congress, the Kentucky senator argued, “…when the poem beneath the Statue of Liberty says ‘give me your tired, give me your poor,’ it didn’t say come to our country and we’ll put you on welfare.”
By the way, when you hear someone say we only bring in 70,000 (soon to be 85,000) refugees, please remember that we also grant asylum to approximately 25,000 more each year, then we admit 50,000 (probably not screened!) in through the absolutely insane ‘Diversity Visa Lottery.’ Hundreds of thousands are here in the ‘Temporary Protected Status’ category, and thousands more through other smaller legal programs, not to mention tens of thousands of unaccompanied alien children.
So, I guess I am saying don’t focus exclusively on the 10,000 Syrians, there is much more danger and expense throughout the system.