Close X
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
ADVT 
National

A Dozen U.S. States Want Door Slammed On Refugees, As Political Rift Deepens

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 17 Nov, 2015 11:10 AM
    WASHINGTON — The Paris attacks have exposed an ideological cleavage in western countries over the handling of the Syrian refugee crisis, with the political left and right at odds over welcoming migrants.
     
    The sharp contrast was driven by news that the group of killers appeared to include at least one accomplice who'd slipped into Europe in the human wave flowing from Syria.
     
    That prompted a chorus of right-wing voices demanding that western governments slam the door, in what they described Monday as an unprecedented security emergency.
     
    On the other hand, left-wingers insisted upon the moral obligation to continue screening — and bringing in — migrants affected by a humanitarian catastrophe.
     
    The debate swiftly inserted itself into the U.S. presidential election.
     
    The Obama administration faces a noisy political backlash — despite having promised to take in a relatively paltry number of refugees compared to its northern neighbour.
     
    The U.S. is accepting barely a fraction of the refugees per capita that Canada's Trudeau government has promised to bring in by the new year — 10,000 for the U.S. next year, compared with 25,000 for Canada within six weeks.
     
    But that's still too many according to Republican presidential candidates, members of Congress and more than a dozen mostly Republican state governors who demanded a halt Monday.
     
     
    That uproar from the American right was echoed in France by the Front National's Marine Le Pen, by some other European parties, and by a few conservatives in Canada including Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.
     
    President Barack Obama, however, pushed back against demands for a freeze. He was especially scathing of Republicans who appeared to demand a Christians-only refugee policy.
     
    "The United States has to step up and do its part," Obama told a news conference at the G20 in Turkey.
     
    "And 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 ... that's shameful. That's not American, it's not who we are."
     
    An administration official was even more defiant. She told a conference in Washington that the U.S. could expand its refugee target — not shrink it.
     
    Catherine Wiesner, deputy assistant secretary of state, told the Center for Strategic and International Studies: "The refugee resettlement numbers will hold. ... You may even see them increase."
     
    She called the heightened politicization of the crisis a serious concern, accusing people of fear-mongering. "Some of it feels really cheap," she said, citing online rumours that 10,000 Syrians had arrived in New Orleans. The actual number? Fourteen she said — the equivalent of barely two families.
     
     
    The Syrian conflict has created a historic crisis involving four million refugees, almost one-quarter of whom have attempted to reach Europe in a humanitarian emergency that has forced rivals Russia, the U.S., and Iran to speak to each other in the hope of brokering a peace plan.
     
    It's emerging as a 2016 U.S. election issue.
     
    Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has warned the refugees could be, "one of the great Trojan horses"; his rival Ted Cruz wants to bar Muslim refugees, but allow Christians; Jeb Bush didn't go quite as far as Cruz, but said Christians should be a priority; Marco Rubio said the U.S. is incapable of handling the load.
     
    A number of governors, almost all of Republican, have told Obama they don't want refugees. Some personally informed him in writing.
     
    "I — and millions of Americans — implore you to halt your plans to accept more Syrian refugees in the United States," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in a letter to Obama.
     
    "A Syrian 'refugee' appears to have been part of the Paris terror attack. American humanitarian compassion could be exploited to expose Americans to similar deadly danger."
     
    Some American liberals said the furor reminded them of last year's hysteria over Ebola, fanned vigorously by Republicans right until the midterm elections ended.
     
    In that scare, Canada's Harper government frustrated humanitarian groups and liberals abroad by imposing a visa ban on Ebola-affected countries.
     
     
    This time, the political dynamic in Canada has switched.
     
    It's now Canadian conservatives on the outs, in opposition in Ottawa and most provincial legislatures.
     
    The Saskatchewan premier who has asked the Liberal government to suspend its refugee plans is a rare conservative in power.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Statistics Canada Says Trade Deficit Narrows To $1.7 Billion For September

    Statistics Canada Says Trade Deficit Narrows To $1.7 Billion For September
    The result compared with a revised deficit of $2.7 billion in August that was first reported to be $2.5 billion.

    Statistics Canada Says Trade Deficit Narrows To $1.7 Billion For September

    Preliminary Trial Date Set For Ontario Woman Charged After Giving Water To Pigs

    Preliminary Trial Date Set For Ontario Woman Charged After Giving Water To Pigs
    The preliminary hearing for a woman charged with mischief after providing water to pigs en route to a slaughterhouse has been set for the end of November.

    Preliminary Trial Date Set For Ontario Woman Charged After Giving Water To Pigs

    Two Turbaned Sikhs Among Four Indo-Canadians Sworn In As Cabinet Ministers In Canada

    Two Turbaned Sikhs Among Four Indo-Canadians Sworn In As Cabinet Ministers In Canada
    The Punjabi community in Canada made history on Wednesday when two turbaned Sikhs, among four Indo-Canadians, were sworn in as cabinet ministers, as 42-year-old Justin Trudeau took oath as the country's 23rd prime minister at a grand public ceremony here.

    Two Turbaned Sikhs Among Four Indo-Canadians Sworn In As Cabinet Ministers In Canada

    Richmond Councillor Says Vancouver Coastal Health Ignoring Earthquake Danger

    Richmond Councillor Says Vancouver Coastal Health Ignoring Earthquake Danger
    Bill McNulty says studies conducted in 2005 and 2011 found Richmond Hospital could not withstand even a moderate shaker.

    Richmond Councillor Says Vancouver Coastal Health Ignoring Earthquake Danger

    Two Walk Away From Vancouver Island Plane Crash; Vernon Man Dies In Unrelated Collision

    Two Walk Away From Vancouver Island Plane Crash; Vernon Man Dies In Unrelated Collision
    A 36-year-old Vernon man has been identified as the victim of a single vehicle crash on Highway 95 south of Golden in southeastern B.C.

    Two Walk Away From Vancouver Island Plane Crash; Vernon Man Dies In Unrelated Collision

    Cabinet Berth Likely For Sikh MP Navdeep Bains In Canada

    Cabinet Berth Likely For Sikh MP Navdeep Bains In Canada
    If you are still waiting for Justin Trudeau to call and offer you a cabinet post, you can stop the wait Trudeau has already selected his new cabinet and made his telephone calls to the lucky incoming ministers

    Cabinet Berth Likely For Sikh MP Navdeep Bains In Canada