Congressman Tom Cole is calling on President Obama to approve the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act. The resolution calls for improvements to the vetting process before allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees’ entry into the U.S. Cole believes America can exercise caution while extending compassion.
“Certainly, I believe that most Syrian and Iraqi refugees are seeking to escape ISIL’s extreme jihadism and senseless violence. However, I remain concerned about the safety of American citizens if these refugees are accepted in large numbers under the current screening and surveillance system. As we learned after ISIL’s attacks in Paris, the organization will clearly use whatever means necessary to spread its influence—even having its fighters pose as refugees. Unfortunately, I fully expect ISIL will continue to use the refugee crisis to send out terrorists, infiltrate western nations and pick up recruits to spread more violence around the world,” said Cole.
He claims the SAFE Act is a step in the right direction.
“Recently, in response to the increasing influence of ISIL and the terrorist organization’s suspected exploitation of refugees, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act. While this legislation halts admission of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the United States, it’s important to understand that the SAFE Act wouldn’t prevent these individuals from eventually seeking refuge in our country. Instead, it simply requires that improvements be made to the vetting process before taking refugees in, which includes greater scrutiny during background checks and requires top U.S. security officials to independently verify that any individual resettled in our country poses no security threat to America. I believe that these higher standards for vetting are the responsible and appropriate thing to do, and it rightly reassures the American people that our compassion will not be wrongly extended to persons who thirst for violence and aim to destroy us.”
Cole said that ultimately the refugee crisis won’t go away until ISIL is defeated.
