[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 31, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H757]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WELCOMING REFUGEES IN RUTLAND, VERMONT

  (Mr. WELCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELCH. Madam Speaker, I wish to introduce President Trump to two 
Syrian families who made it to safety in Rutland, Vermont, just a week 
before he slammed the door.
  The al-Hallak family is from Damascus, and the Khatib family is from 
Aleppo. These families survived a home being bombed, al Qaeda and ISIS 
terrorists, and the brutal violence of the Assad regime. They found 
temporary refuge in Turkey. They have now found permanent freedom in 
Vermont. These good people endured all of this hardship to do what all 
parents strive to do--protect their children from harm.
  Madam Speaker, I wish President Trump were with me last Thursday in 
Rutland to meet the al-Hallaks and the Khatibs. Do we really fear these 
families when they have been so rigorously vetted?
  I wish President Trump were with me to meet the generous people of 
Rutland. They had good questions about the refugee program--its cost 
and their security. Yet, Madam Speaker, unlike President Trump, the 
folks in Rutland never, never wanted to ban Muslims and welcome only 
Christians.

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