During that
conversation with Members of the Senate, there was a good deal of
discussion about foreign policy challenges that are very much a part of
this debate on Mr. Tillerson. It was interesting to listen to King Abdallah of Jordan talk about
his country's commitment to refugees. They have taken in refugees from
many parts of that region--from Iraq, Yemen, and other countries. They
have taken in over 600,000 refugees from Syria. I think King Abdallah
used a number. If you wanted to use a comparable number of refugees
coming into America, it would be equivalent to about 60 million
refugees coming into our country. Let me remind you that in Syria,
President Obama committed to 10,000. It is literally a drop in the
bucket compared to what Jordan has done in accepting refugees. It just
underscores even more how wrong President Trump's Executive order over
the weekend was, which put a hold on our refugee program and restricted
travel to the United States. The vetting that goes forward in Jordan in regard to refugees is
under the auspices of the United Nations, and of those who are seeking
refugee status, a very small percentage--I understand it is less than
one percent--will actually ever get a chance to be considered for
refugee status here in the United States. Let me remind you that we are
talking about, generally, women and children who are fleeing
persecution, who have established themselves as refugees. They go
through several screening procedures. Their background is thoroughly
checked.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees