Rep. Trey Gowdy on Thursday rejected President Obama’s claim that Republicans want to block Syrian refugees because they’re afraid of “widows and orphans,” and said what he’s really afraid of is Obama’s failure to secure Americans from possible terrorists who may try to infiltrate the U.S. disguised as refugees.
“The president says we’re scared of widows and orphans,” Gowdy said at a House Judiciary Committee subcommittee hearing on Obama’s immigration plan. “With all due respect to him, what I’m really afraid of is a foreign policy that creates more widows and orphans.”
“So where maybe he ought to start … is a foreign policy in the Middle East, including Syria, where people can go back to their homelands, which is their preference, go back to their homelands,” he said.
“Maybe he ought to defeat that JV team that you thought you had contained,” Gowdy added. “That would be the very best thing you could do to help people who aspire to a better life.”
Republicans have demanded a more rigorous screening process for Syrian refugees, and were on schedule to pass legislation requiring that change early Thursday afternoon.
At the hearing, Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard told members that the administration wants to take in 10,000 more Syrians in the current fiscal year, and that the U.S. took in 1,700 Syrians in the last fiscal year.
