[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 171 (Thursday, November 19, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8114-S8115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SYRIAN REFUGEES

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we all know that the Federal Government has 
many obligations, but chief among them is to protect the American 
people from harm. That responsibility is now at the forefront of talk 
here in our Nation's Capital, and rightfully so. ISIS continues to 
spread its campaign of terror across the entire world.
  The United States is committed to combating terrorism. Our government 
will do all that is possible to protect the people of this Nation. In 
this fight against evil ISIS, it is absolutely critical that we as 
Americans do not lose sight of our Nation's core principles. Those 
principles are eloquently etched into the base of the Statue of 
Liberty.
  I can remember taking my family there for the first time. I didn't 
have all my children yet--we had more that had to be born--but my older 
children still remember that. I remember it.
  Here is what it says:

       Give me your tired, your poor,
       Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
       The retched refuse of your teaming shore.
       Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me.

  That, of course, is directed to the United States. All across Europe 
and the Middle East, there are huddled masses of Syrian families 
desperate to find refuge someplace from Syria's civil war and the ISIS 
reign of terror. Millions of Syrians fled their country. About 300,000 
of them have been killed since the civil war started--300,000. They 
fled to neighboring nations such as Turkey, Lebanon, and tiny little 
Jordan.
  But the crisis in Syria continues to worsen and people are forced to 
seek refuge. What else can they do? On a daily basis, Europe's borders 
are being flooded by people in search of safety and a better life--
mothers cradling infants and fathers carrying children in their arms. 
The nations of Europe have helped. Greece, Germany, and others have 
accommodated the enormous influx of people as safely as possible.
  They are overwhelmed. The United States must do its part. We have a 
rigorous screening process for when we accept these refugees. The 
refugees we are accepting are women and children and old and older men 
with families. Only 2 percent of the refugees are men of military age--
2 percent. We accepted a little under 2,000 last year. Two percent of 
those were of military age.
  The United States has a long and proud history of providing refuge to 
the world's most vulnerable. That history includes my father-in-law, 
Israel Goldfarb. He and his family came from Russia. They were refugees 
escaping the programs of a czar. I have been disgusted in recent days 
to see some of my Republican colleagues shun the American tradition of 
displaying compassion for those in need, of sheltering those fleeing 
torture, rape and oppression. Frankly, I have been disappointed by 
Republican fear-mongering and bigotry.
  Apparently they have learned nothing from history. We cannot repeat 
the dark days of the 1930s when many Americans resolved to turn away 
helpless refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler or imprisoned 
innocent Japanese Americans during World War II, like our late 
colleague Dan Inouye and his family.
  Those mistakes were based on misguided fears of people we did not 
know. How many people died because of unfounded apprehension? I don't 
know but far too many. Yet it seems many Republicans are destined to go 
down that same path again. Some in the Republican Party have suggested 
that we categorically block all Syrian refugees. One Republican 
candidate for President suggested we turn away even 5-year-old refugee 
children. Two other Republican candidates for President implied that 
the United States of America should have some sort of religious test 
for refugees. They are saying only Christians.

[[Page S8115]]

This is the latest in what has become a disturbing pattern of 
Republican hatred and intolerance toward Muslims. Remember, Syria is 
mostly Muslim, but there are Jews, there are Christians--lots of them. 
During the course of the current Presidential cycle, we have heard from 
the leading lights of the Republican Party the following: that we are 
at war with Islam, that we should be shutting down Muslim houses of 
worship in America, close the mosques, that we should ban Muslims from 
government service. We have two of my friends who serve in the House of 
Representatives who are Muslim. They are proud. That religion has made 
them better people.
  Now they are even suggesting that we should reject refugees fleeing 
persecution on the grounds that they are Muslim. That is not America. 
That is hate emanating from some Republicans. That anti-Muslim venom 
from Republicans is a propaganda bonanza for ISIS. Christian groups 
have responded to those Republican attacks. We have heard what the Pope 
said: to kill in the name of religion is blasphemous.
  World Relief, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Lutheran 
Immigration and Refugee Service are all dismayed at the anti-refugee 
fervor pushed forward by Republicans and are urging supporters to 
contact elected officials on behalf of these victims of the Syrian 
conflict.
  We must pause and think about what they have been through--poison 
gas, cluster bombs. Let's think about who these refugees are. They are 
not our enemies. They are expelled from their homeland by the same evil 
rulers we are fighting. All they want is to find safety, to restart 
their lives. These people have been persecuted--that is an 
understatement--by President Assad and ISIS. The Syrian regime, I 
repeat, has barrel-bombed their own citizens, has unleashed chemical 
weapons against their own citizens, rapes, justifying the rapes of 
these hundreds and hundreds of women in the name of their religion--
murdering women and children. Those refugees hate Assad. They hate 
ISIS. That is why they are trying to get out of that horrible situation 
they find themselves.
  The Department of Homeland Security has verified that not one of 
1,800 refugees already admitted in the United States has a single 
confirmed tie to terrorism--not one. To deny our moral obligation to 
these struggling people would be to abandon the principles of this 
great country. That is how France feels about it also. On the heels of 
last week's appalling attacks, the President of France is refusing to 
neglect France's duty to humanity. Here is what this good man said 
yesterday:

       30,000 refugees will be welcomed over the next two years. 
     Our country has the duty to respect this commitment.

  After what they have been through, this is what the President of 
France said: Accepting Syrian refugees is the moral thing to do and it 
is sound policy. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agrees that 
the United States must open its arms to those fleeing persecution. Here 
is what she said:

       What the United States has done is to be open to people who 
     are fleeing tyranny, who are fleeing danger, but we have done 
     it in a very careful way.

  Secretary Madeleine Albright authored an op-ed this week for Time 
magazine. Now, remember, she herself was a refugee. That is how she 
came to this country during World War II. She said Americans must 
respond with compassion if we are going to defeat ISIS. We can do all 
we want with refugees. This is no way to win the war, attacking the 
refugees. Here is what she said, Madeleine Albright:

       Our enemies have a plan. They want to divide the world 
     between Muslims and non-Muslims, and between the defenders 
     and attackers of Islam. By making Syrian refugees the enemy, 
     we are playing into their hands. Instead, we need to clarify 
     that the real choice is between those who think it is okay to 
     murder innocent people and those who think it is wrong. By 
     showing that we value every human life, we can make clear to 
     the world where we stand.

  What Secretary Albright said and what Secretary Rice said is 
absolutely right. We process Syrian refugees in a very careful way. It 
has worked. We are not the nations of Europe. Has anyone stopped for a 
minute and thought that we have an ocean between us and them, an ocean, 
the Atlantic Ocean.
  The U.S. refugee screening takes place well before any individual 
comes to our borders. To enter the U.S. refugee program as an 
applicant, the U.N. Refugee Agency must first select and refer all 
potential refugees to our program. We accept refugees solely on a 
referral basis from the United Nation's agency. We do not go out and 
solicit any of these people. After being referred, all refugees, 
including those from Syria, are subjected to extremely rigorous 
screening and security checks. This is not some easy procedure where 
refugees fly right through the application process and are sent here in 
a matter of days. No. It takes an average of 18 to 24 months for a 
refugee to make it through the process to come to the United States.
  Remember, the vast majority of these people are checked and 
rechecked, taking 24 months; they are women and children and old men. I 
repeat. It takes 18 to 24 months for a refugee to make it through the 
process of coming to the United States. That is why only 1,800 refugees 
have been admitted since the start of the conflict out of the millions 
who are fleeing Syria. Our government accepts only the most vulnerable 
of the Syrians, survivors of violence and torture, those with severe 
medical conditions, women and children, but security precautions are 
not taking a backseat in the process. These Syrian refugees are real 
people. Images of their plight should be so visually apparent in our 
minds. Think of that little boy whom we saw and everyone saw around the 
world, a picture of this little dead boy washed up on a beach, a 
drowned Syrian boy whose body was washed up on this Turkish beach, 
pictures on the front page of newspapers, all the TV programs for 
several days.
  At that time, Democrats and Republicans together responded with calls 
for compassion and action. I urge Republicans to remember that little 
boy. We must help where we can. That is who we are. We are America. We 
come to the defense of the defenseless. We come to the aid of those in 
need. Right now we are needed. We are a nation--a nation of freedom. We 
should not forsake our duty and obligation to these struggling people.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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