Connecticut to Welcome Refugees Who've Been Screened

A spokesman for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says Connecticut will continue to welcome refugees into the state who've gone through a rigorous security screening.

Devon Puglia said Monday the administration has questions about the Department of Homeland Security's screening measures for refugees entering the country following the deadly Paris terror attacks.

Puglia said the administration is awaiting guidance from federal agencies on their screening measures.

A Connecticut interfaith coalition recently embarked on a plan they've dubbed "10 in 10." It calls for placing 10 Syrian families in each of 10 cities across Connecticut amid a refugee crisis.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he opposes President Obama's plan to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. over the next year and would not allow them in if he were president. 

In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt on Monday, Christie said: "I do not trust this administration to effectively vet the people who are proposed to be coming in, in order to protect the safety and security of the American people, so I would not permit them in." 

The Department of Homeland Security has said that refugees were subject to security checks by the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the intelligence community. All available information is vetted against an array of law enforcement, intelligence and other databases.

Asked by Hewitt "what if they're orphans under the age of 5?," Christie responded, "We could come up with 18 different scenarios. The fact is that we need for appropriate vetting and I don’t think orphans under 5 are being — should be admitted into the United States at this point. But you know, they have no family here, how are we gonna care for these folks."

When it comes to New Jersey specifically, however, he has not said whether he'll join other governors in temporarily halting acceptance of Syrian refugees following the deadly terror attacks in Paris.

There are already refugees from the war-torn Middle Eastern nation settling in New Jersey, notably in Jersey City. 

In New York, U.S. Rep. Chris Collins and Assemblyman Christopher Friend urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to prevent Syrian refugees from being placed in the state, citing the threat of terrorism. A spokesman for Cuomo declined to comment on the request. Some 48 Syrian refugees have settled in New York so far this year, according to a federal database. 

Immigrant rights groups say states don't have legal authority to block refugees from being resettled.

President Obama condemned the governors who want to ban all Syrian refugees from their states.

"That's shameful," he said in a news conference wrapping up a two-day summit of world leaders in Turkey. "That's not American. It's not who we are."

"The people who are fleeing Syria are the most harmed by terrorism…they are parents, they are children, they are orphans." Obama said. "It is very important that we do not close our hearts to these victims of such violence and somehow start equating the issue of refugees with the issue of terrorism."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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