Donald Trump has issued very few specifics in how he would deal with the world’s refugee crisis, but on Tuesday his campaign manager offered a bombshell sure to score him points with the GOP’s conservative base.
Corey Lewandowski said the United States “should take in zero” Syrian refugees.
“This is very simple, the bottom line is we should take in zero,” Lewandowski said when asked by radio host John Fredericks what a President Trump would do about the refugee crisis.
“And the United States, to be clear, has a process for bringing refugees into the country, and an individual must qualify as a refugee to begin that process, is how it works,” Lewandowski continued. “Individuals caught in a civil war do not necessarily qualify as refugees.
“If Mr. Trump were the president of the United States, we would not be bringing refugees into the country under this criteria,” Lewandowski said.
Listen to interview with Trump’s campaign manager:
[jwplayer SjV3bD9A]
Secretary of State John Kerry announced Sunday plans by the Obama administration to increase the number of refugees brought directly from the Third World to America, from 70,000 this year to 85,000 in 2016 and 100,000 in 2017.
WND reported Monday that two bills are now in play in the House, one introduced by Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, that would halt all refugee resettlement pending a full investigation of the program’s financial and security impact; and the second authored by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, would require congressional approval of all resettlements and require priority to be given to Christian refugees.
In previous interviews, Trump has not completely ruled out taking in refugees from Syria.
As recently as Sept. 8 Trump told Bill O’Reilly: “I hate the concept of it, but on a humanitarian basis, you have to” accept some refugees.
On Sept. 15, Trump told “Morning Joe” that “the answer is possibly yes” to accepting refugees, even though “we have so many problems of our own.”
“There’s only so much we can do – we have to fix our own country,” he explained.
‘Time to put Americans first’
In the Tuesday radio interview, Lewandowski delivered a much stronger line of argument, saying “it is time – and Mr. Trump has said this, time and time again – to put Americans first.”
“While I understand our position in the global economy, and how important the United States is in world public affairs, it is time to look at the people who are in our country first who are struggling – the middle class, the bottom class of people who can’t survive – and give them opportunities,” said Lewandowski. “And this is exactly what the issue is, when it comes to not just bringing in refugees, but illegal immigrants.
“It is time to build a wall, it is time to make sure our borders are secure, it is time to make sure that the people who are at the lowest economic status in this country, their jobs are not being taken away by illegal immigrants who are coming to this country illegally,” he continued. “Why don’t we let those people – give them the opportunity to do the jobs, give them the opportunity to have a leg up, give them the opportunity to make their lives better, before we worry about the people in other parts of the world who aren’t U.S. citizens to begin with?”
In an interview with CBN News in July, Trump said he would focus on bringing more Christians out of the Middle East to America as refugees.
“If you’re a Christian living in Syria, you can’t come into this country. And yet if you’re a Muslim living in Syria, who are not under attack, they can come in. But we have Christians being beheaded all over the world, by ISIS, in Syria and Iraq in particular, and those Christians can’t come into this country. So you say what you want, I mean this is really, something. And that’s a lack of respect, for us. If you’re a Muslim, you can come into the country very eas[ily]. If you’re from Europe and you’re a Muslim, you can come in. But if you’re from Europe and you’re a Christian, you can’t come in, meaning it’s almost impossible. So you tell me about religious liberty and freedom. The Christians are being treated horribly because we have nobody to represent the Christians.”
Among U.S.-bound Syrian refugees, Muslims dominate
According to the U.S. State Department’s database, 1,649 Syrians entered the U.S. under the refugee resettlement program between July 15, 2014 and Sept. 15, 2015. Of that group, 95 percent have been Muslim with the vast majority of those being Sunni Muslim. Less than 50 Christians, a paltry 3.8 percent, have been rescued from Syria. In Iraq, 62 percent of the refugees brought to America have been Muslim.
Part of the problem is that the United Nations chooses almost all of the refugees destined for America. That has been the structure under which the U.S. has resettled refugees since 1980, when Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980, crafted by former Sens. Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden and signed by President Jimmy Carter.
But the list of cities resisting the pouring of U.N. refugees into their communities is also growing. That list now includes Twin Falls, Idaho; Fargo, North Dakota; Spartanburg, South Carolina; Athens, Georgia; and St. Cloud, Minnesota, along with some nascent pockets of resistance in Michigan.
“I can’t emphasize enough that if they can’t find enough ‘welcoming’ locations, they will be out scouting for more unsuspecting towns,” says Ann Corcoran, author of the Refugee Resettlement Watch blog.
A total of 1,709 Syrian refugees have been resettled in the U.S. between Jan. 1, 2012, and Sept. 21, 2015 – 95 percent are Muslims, and 97 percent in calendar year 2015 are Muslims.
“And, that is because we allow the United Nations to choose our refugees,” Corcoran said.
Here then are the cities where those 1,709 Syrians have been resettled. Some may only have received one Syrian so far, but that one should be considered a “seedling” that will lead to many more in the months and years ahead, Corcoran said.
States receiving Syrian Muslim refugees (states receiving highest number in bold):
Arizona (Glendale, Phoenix, Tucson)
Arkansas (Springdale)
California (Burbank, Chatsworth, El Cajon, Fair Oaks, Los Angeles, Modesto, Moorpark, Oakland, Pasadena, Plumas Lake, Sacramento, Salinas, San Diego, Santa Ana, Turlock, Van Nuys, Walnut Creek, West Covina)
Colorado (Colorado Springs, Denver)
Connecticut (Bristol, Hartford, New Haven, West Haven)
Florida (Clearwater, Jacksonville, Kissimmee, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Zephyrhills)
Georgia (Atlanta, Stone Mountain)
Idaho (Boise)
Illinois (Alsip, Aurora, Chicago, Des Plaines, Moline, Prospect Heights, Rock Island, Rockford, Wheaton)
Indiana (Indianapolis)
Kansas (Overland Park, Wichita)
Kentucky (Lexington, Louisville)
Louisiana (Baton Rouge, Kenner)
Maine (Portland)
Maryland (Baltimore, Riverdale, Severna Park, Silver Spring)
Massachusetts (Beverly, Lowell, South Boston, Springfield, Tewksbury, West Springfield, Worcester)
Michigan (Ann Arbor, Clinton Twp., Dearborn, Eastpointe, Farmington Hills, Grand Rapids, Troy, West Bloomfield Twp.)
Minnesota (Richfield, Rochester)
Missouri (Fenton, St. Louis)
Nevada (Las Vegas)
New Hampshire (Concord)
New Jersey (Camden, Clifton, Elizabeth, Jersey City)
New Mexico (Albuquerque)
New York (Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse)
North Carolina (Durham, Greensboro, High Point, New Bern, Raleigh)
Ohio (Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Westerville)
Oklahoma (Jenks)
Oregon (Portland)
Pennsylvania (Allentown, Erie, Harrisburg, Kingston, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre)
Tennessee (Memphis, Nashville)
Texas (Austin, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston)
Utah (Salt Lake City)
Virginia (Burke, Centreville, Charlottesville, Falls Church, Newport News, Roanoke)
Washington (Richland, Seattle, Spokane, Vancouver)
West Virginia (Charleston)
Wisconsin (Oshkosh)
