CARSON VISITS REFUGEE CAMPS
He says most Syrian migrants don’t want to come to USA
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Syrian refugees don’t really want to come to the U.S. — they would prefer to stay in the Middle East in the hope they can eventually return to their homeland.
“Their main desire is to be repatriated in their homeland,” Carson said in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press after touring refugee camps in Jordan.
“I said what kinds of things can a nation like the United States do to help? And there was a pretty uniform answer on that. And that was they can support the efforts of the Jordanians,” Carson said in an interview from Amman, Jordan. He made the same case in a separate appearance on ABC’s This Week program.
Many European nations including Germany are taking in Syrian refugees who are escaping their country’s 4-yearold civil war. In the U.S., Congress and many governors are balking at taking in Syrians for fear that Islamic State terrorists will try to slip into the country posing as innocent refugees. Some 4 million Syrians have fled and most have wound up in Turkey, Lebanon or Jordan with hopes of migrating to northern Europe or other prosperous countries.
At least 30 governors, 29 of them Republican, have said they will block Syrian refugees from resettling in their states or want more information before accepting them. Congressional leaders have called for a pause in the vetting process for Syrians to ensure terrorists don’t get admitted.
In his NBC interview, Carson said Jordanian camps need about $3 billion more a year, a number tantamount to what the U.S. spends on “Halloween candy.” On ABC, he acknowledged that the camps currently are unable to provide the refugees the support they need and that, regardless of conditions, refugees don’t want to stay there long term.
Carson said absorbing the refugees is “not solving the problem.”
“That’s a little Band-Aid that makes a few people say ‘Hey, we’re good guys,’ ” said Carson.
So far, 2,174 Syrian refugees have been admitted for resettlement in the U.S. Obama has told Congress he intends to take in an additional 10,000 Syrians over the next year. Germany has said it will accept as many as 1 million migrants this year alone.
Obama has said he would veto a proposed bill that would require three top administration officials to sign off on each Syrian refugee as a non-threat to U.S. security. The House overwhelmingly passed the measure.
The State Department says half the Syrians cleared to move to the United States are children and only 2% are single men of combat age. It also says the Syrians are subjected to greater scrutiny than any other class of traveler.