Oklahoma leaders are voicing their concerns over Syrian and Iraqi refugees feeling from the Islamic State. The House of Representatives passed House Resolution 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015 on Thursday by a vote of 289-137. The legislation recommends improvements to the vetting process before allowing more refugees from Syria and Iraq to enter the U.S.
Congressman Tom Cole supported the move.
“Our first obligation and duty is to keep American citizens safe and prevent terrorists from wreaking havoc in the United States,” said Cole. “Given the recent attacks in Paris and considering that one of the attackers posed as a refugee from Syria when he entered Europe, it is clear that ISIL will use the refugee tragedy and any other means necessary to smuggle terrorists into other countries in order to commit crimes against humanity. Without question, we must be certain that isn’t allowed to happen in the United States when accepting refugees. While I don’t doubt that many refugees are genuinely fleeing the Middle East for safe haven from ISIL’s violence, our security officials also have an obligation to verify that any individuals resettled on American soil pose no risk to the safety of our own citizens. Until the system is adequately improved and strengthened, it is safer for all concerned to delay refugees from entering the country.”
Cole also joined 110 House members in sending a letter to President Obama urging him to halt admission of Syrian and Iraqi refugees until the vetting and monitoring process is improved.
Congressman Steve Russell took to the House floor to voice his view on the way forward for both the refugees fleeing the Islamic State and for the occupying terror organization itself.
“America protects her liberty and defends her shores not by punishing those who would be free. She does it by guarding liberty with her life. Americans need to sacrifice and wake up. We must not become them. They win if we give up who we are and even more so without a fight,” said Russell. “We guard our way of life by vigilance. We must be watchful. We have to have each other’s back and be alert to dangers around us. We must speak up when we see something unusual. By maintaining who we are amidst the threat, amidst the hatred, amidst the trials, we win. Patrick Henry did not say give me Safety or give me Death! He said Give me Liberty.”
Russell also called on President Obama to take action against the Islamic State. From his military point of view, the retired Army Colonel called for crippling Raqqa.
“It is clear it is the symbolic center of ISIS power. The President’s cabinet says, ‘We are worried about collateral damage and civilian casualties.’ News flash! The most humane thing we can do to end the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people is to cripple what ISIS draws its strength from. Destroy their infrastructure. Hammer their electricity capacity and drop their transmission lines. Eliminate their cell towers where they draw their communications capacity. Destroy the bridges on their roads of ingress and egress. Hammer the oil refining installations they possess and fund themselves with—we have the ability to rebuild them later but ISIS would be diminished financially by their loss. Put a different way, the most humane thing we can do to protect civilians is to disrupt ISIS’ immediate ability to advance and recruit. And if the US leads, others will stand shoulder to shoulder. We need our president to lead.”
Representative Frank Lucas also called for President Obama to review the process of bringing Syrian refugees into the country.
“In light of the recent events, President Obama still stands by his call to bring at least 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States over the coming year. Of course, Americans are left wondering why the president has a plan to resettle Syrian refugees but has laid out no vision or strategy to defeat ISIS – the unmistakable source of this crisis,” Lucas said. “I believe we should take a step back and get a grip on this issue because we cannot afford to get it wrong. We should halt all incoming Syrian refugees to ensure terrorists are not infiltrating the refugee populations.”
