In light of the terror attacks in Paris last Friday that ISIS has claimed responsibility for, some public figures have been unsympathetic to the Syrian refugees trying to escape this same violence. For example, 26 governors have said they wouldn’t accept Syrian refugees, according to Vox.
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz believes only Christian Syrian refugees should be let into the United States. On Monday, CNN’s Dana Bash asked him point blank, “What would have happened if your father, who was trying to get from Cuba to the United States, and the political leaders said, ‘Nope, we don’t think so, because who knows?” Bash went on to say that maybe his father would have been kept out because someone thought he was going to commit crimes against people in the U.S., according to Salon.
“See, that’s why it’s important to define what it is we’re fighting,” Cruz replied. “If my father were part of a theocratic and political movement like radical Islamism that promotes murdering anyone who doesn’t share your extreme faith or forcibly converting them, then it would have made perfect sense.” This fucking guy.
Yesterday, Cruz asked President Barack Obama to stop subtweeting him. Obama slammed Republican politicians for wanting to close the door on Syrian refugees while he was in the Philippines, so Cruz challenged Obama to a public debate on refugee policy, according to the New York Times.
Cruz and his team are getting ready to release a bill this week, and though he doesn’t say whether it will bar Muslims or all refugees, his quotes to the NYT were very telling. “It is the height of lunacy for a government official to welcome in tens of thousands of refugees when we know that among them will be ISIS terrorists,” he said.