{"id":11621,"date":"2015-11-16T18:30:15","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T18:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=11621"},"modified":"2015-11-16T18:30:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-16T18:30:15","slug":"gov-abbott-slams-door-on-syrian-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=11621","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Abbott slams door on Syrian refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/syrian_refugee_crisis.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11622\" src=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/syrian_refugee_crisis-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"  Syrian children march in the refugee camp in Jordan.  The number of Children in this camp exceeds 60% of the total number of refugees hence the name &quot;Children's camp&quot;. Some of them lost their relatives, but others lost their parents.\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/syrian_refugee_crisis-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/syrian_refugee_crisis-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/syrian_refugee_crisis.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Honestly, I have a measure of sympathy for what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has declared with regard to refugees from Syria.<\/p>\n<p>He has informed President Obama that Texas won&#8217;t accept any refugees from\u00a0the nation they are fleeing. Why? One individual who entered France as a &#8220;refugee&#8221; reportedly was part of the attack force that terrorized Paris this past week, killing 129 people and injuring hundreds more.<\/p>\n<p>Abbott doesn&#8217;t want to take any chances by allowing Syrians into this state. He joins the governors of Alabama and Michigan in banning Syrian refugees.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2015\/11\/16\/texas-block-syrian-refugee-resettlement-abbott-say\/\">On the other hand, <\/a>I believe it is fair to ask: Is this what the United States of America stands for?<\/p>\n<p>An Austin immigration lawyer told the Texas Tribune that Abbott&#8217;s order is legal, but questions whether it is right.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Given the tragic attacks in Paris and the threats we have already seen, Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees \u2014 any one of whom could be connected to terrorism \u2014 being resettled in Texas,&#8221; Abbott wrote\u00a0to President\u00a0Obama.<\/p>\n<p>I get that. But aren&#8217;t there intense security measures a state such as Texas can take screen all applicants coming here from Syria to ensure that they do not have any ties to the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah &#8230; or any sinister terrorist organization?<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s more from the Tribune: &#8220;House Speaker <a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/directory\/joe-straus\/\" data-tooltip=\"\/directory\/joe-straus\/quicklook\/\"><u><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Joe Straus<\/span><\/u><\/a> on Monday took a more nuanced position, saying he agreed with Abbott\u2019s &#8216;concern&#8217; and that refugees needed \u201cthorough background reviews\u201d in order to be placed in Texas. &#8216;I share Gov. Abbott&#8217;s concern that relocating refugees to Texas without thorough background reviews compromises our security,&#8217; Straus said in an emailed statement. &#8216;Our highest priority as a state has been and should continue to be the safety of all Texans.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Virtually all the refugees coming here are fleeing terror, murder, warfare, mayhem, bloodshed. You name it, they&#8217;re seeking to escape that misery. What is to become of them? Do we send them to other states? Do we &#8212; as Donald Trump suggests &#8212; send them back to the chaos they are fleeing?<\/p>\n<p>We proclaim ourselves to live in the Land of Opportunity. We profess our nation to be a bastion for the dispossessed.<\/p>\n<p><em>Of course<\/em> no one wants to\u00a0create a\u00a0safe haven for terrorist monsters. What, though, does the world do with those who deserve protection from those who would kill them?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=jkanelis\" class=\"twitter-share-button\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Honestly, I have a measure of sympathy for what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has declared with regard to refugees from Syria. He has informed President Obama that Texas won&#8217;t accept any refugees from\u00a0the nation they are fleeing. Why? One individual who entered France as a &#8220;refugee&#8221; reportedly was part of the attack force that terrorized &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=11621\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Gov. Abbott slams door on Syrian refugees<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13,14,18],"tags":[540,2006,2347,2362,2519,5612,4644],"class_list":["post-11621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-news","category-national-news","category-political-news","category-state-news","tag-barack-obama","tag-greg-abbott","tag-isil","tag-islamic-state","tag-joe-straus","tag-syrian-refugees","tag-texas-house-speaker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11623,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11621\/revisions\/11623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}