Thank
goodness we did it. It was the right thing to do. Time and again, whether it was refugees coming in from Vietnam after
the end of that deadly war or whether it was Soviet Jews, persecuted by
the Soviet Union, trying to escape, coming to the United States, we
opened our doors and said: The United States of America will set an
example for the world when it comes to refugees. That defined who we
were and who we still should be. Now this new President is ready to walk away from that. If we had one
instance of a Syrian refugee coming into the United States after that
vetting process who caused harm to our citizens or engaged in an act of
terrorism--if we had one--then perhaps this President could start to
make his case. All he has is fear, unreasoned fear, unproven fear. We recall what
Franklin Roosevelt said to this Nation, standing right out here on the
steps when he was inaugurated in March of 1933: We have nothing to fear
but fear itself. It is fear itself that is motivating this President to
make decisions inconsistent with more than 50 years of American history
and inconsistent with American values. When you meet these refugees and you hear their heartbreaking
stories, how can you say that there is no room for you in this country? Yet that is exactly what he said. Sadly, he not only came up with this Executive order, he did it in a
fashion where the agencies that were supposed to implement the order
really were caught by surprise.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees