Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Friday that if the female suspect in the San Bernardino shootings had in fact been thoroughly screened but was still admitted into the U.S., it ought to end the debate on resettling Syrian refugees in the country.
“If that vetting resulted in missing someone who could carry out such a horrendous crime, that should be the end of the argument right there. We shouldn’t even have to talk about this anymore,” Carson said during a speech to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group of state legislators and business groups.
The woman, Tashfeen Malik, is believed to have pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a Facebook post she published shortly before killing 14 people at the holiday Christmas party Wednesday.
Malik was born in Pakistan, grew up in Saudi Arabia and entered the U.S. on a 90-day K-1 visa, which is required of a fianceé engaged to a U.S. citizen. Officials claim she passed a counterterrorism screening before being allowed to remain in the country.
