SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, America is and must remain a
country that welcomes refugees, and we must welcome refugees of all
religions. President Trump has our country under a Muslim ban that makes us less
safe and less American. Less safe because we already have in place
since World War II a process for vetting refugees who come to this
country, an intense process that takes 18 to 24 months before anyone
can get here. Less safe because it makes us less of a team player on an
international stage that requires cooperation among our allies and
those in the Middle East who are helping us fight terrorism. If we are
not taking on refugees, as our allies, like Jordan and Germany and
others who are in the thick of this fight, we will not be seen as a
team player and we will not be able to count on them for cooperation. Less safe because it motivates and inspires an enemy who is
determined to dispel a message that the United States is not welcome to
Muslims. It makes us less American because refugees have helped America as
much as America has helped refugees. We have seen this in the wisdom of
Albert Einstein, the patriotism of Secretary Madeleine Albright. I have seen this in my own congressional office with my chief of
staff, Ricky Le, who came to our country at age 4, on a raft, fleeing
Vietnam, and was welcomed into this country, where he was given an
opportunity to be the first in his family to go to college, started
working on Capitol Hill as an intern, and serves as the chief of staff
in my office today. I have seen this spirit of the refugee in Mohammad Usafi, who was my
guest at the State of the Union just 2 years ago. Mohammad served our
country as an interpreter in Afghanistan. He lost his father, who was
kidnapped and killed by the Taliban for his service.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees