November 16, 2015
The deadly attacks Friday in Paris have fanned the flames of the debate on whether the United States should continue accepting Syrian refugees.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie emphatically answered no to the possibility of bringing in more of the people fleeing from the war-torn country.
During an interview Monday on the Hugh Hewitt Show, the Republican presidential candidate said he didn't believe in the Obama's administration's ability to properly vet the incoming refugees.
When Hewitt pressed him with a hypothetical, Christie didn't alter his tune. Here's a transcript via The Daily Caller:
Hewitt then asked, “What if they were orphans under the age of five?”
Christie responded, “You know Hugh, we could come up with eighteen different scenarios. The fact is, that we need for appropriate vetting and I don’t think orphans under five should be admitted into the United States at this point.”
He added that he didn't know how the country was supposed to care for those coming in and reiterated he didn't believe President Obama could ensure a thorough vetting process.
His views mirror the rest of the GOP field and several Republican lawmakers, especially current governors who are trying to block new refugees from settling in their state.
Many have called on Obama to ditch a plan to accept 10,000 new refugees in the coming year, but the administration isn't budging, citing security checks and dismissing a direct correlation between terrorism and the crisis.
Obama also criticized a suggestion made by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush that an added focus should be put on protecting Christian Syrian refugees, calling the idea of giving them preference "shameful."
