Posted on 11/16/2015 6:09:32 PM PST by Maceman
The far-right wing in both America and Europe have seized on the Paris terror attacks as an excuse to turn away the thousands of desperate refugees who are fleeing the terror and violence of ISIS. Thirteen American governors (all Republican) have announced they will refuse to accept Syrian refugees in their states, demonstrating a remarkable ignorance of Constitutional law. As ThinkProgress noted, "the Supreme Court explained in Hines v. Davidowitz, "the supremacy of the national power in the general field of foreign affairs, including power over immigration, naturalization and deportation, is made clear by the Constitution." States do not get to overrule the federal government on matters such as this one."
Those declarations by GOP governors are riding the wave of Islamophobia coursing through the right-wing. Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz both proposed profiling refugees by religion and "only accepting Christians," because despite the fact that Christian terrorist attacks take place in our country on a regular basis, Cruz thinks "there is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror." Trump said that he would "strongly consider" shutting down mosques in America, completely contradicting his widely professed devotion for "religious freedom." Mike Huckabee called for the new Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, to halt the "importation" of refugees or resign.
President Obama ripped these xenophobic bigots in his Monday press conference, chastising them for abandoning American values and buying into their own fearmongering:
"When I hear folks say that, well, maybe we should just admit the Christians, but not the Muslims, when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who’s fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that’s shameful. That’s not American. That’s not who we are. we don’t have religious tests to our compassion."
He is absolutely right. While there are certainly dangers we need to address, this kind of reaction from the right-wing is exactly what ISIS wanted. By reacting with fear and discrimination, we marginalize more Muslims and push them into the arms of extremists. The passport that indicated one of the attackers was a Syrian refugee is likely fake, and an obvious plant to inflame fear of refugees. These people are desperately fleeing their homes because the murderous horrors of the Paris attacks are a daily occurrence in ISIS territory – a mass grave of eighty murdered women was recently discovered in Iraq's Sinjar province by liberating Kurdish peshmerga units. It is our moral obligation to accept and protect the incoming refugees in the face of unthinkable violence.
So sue ‘em.
FINE. Come try to arrest a SINGLE governor.
BRING IT.
OK then, impeach them.
Admit none that won’t cater a gay wedding.
LOL. And who’s going to MAKE them take them?
ThinkProgress is becoming very unprogressive these days. They are taking the Fascist stand. But then again, the Fascists are in the White House
Not importing terrorists = islamophobia. Suck it liberal scum. Suck it.
National Guards to be called up!
Dear Colin Taylor,
Glad to hear it. So then, be a big man or whatever you self-identify as and accept as many of those Syrian refugees into your home. Preferably, make them males between the ages of 18-32.
But what am I saying, of course you will!! You can turn a blind eye to their would be plans to decapitate, destroy and otherwise inflict mayhem on this country, so long as you get em all registered to vote democrat first.
Go away now, naïve arse hat.
Better yet how can the Fed Gov have any credibility when it selectively enforces immigration laws in other areas.
Either the law is the law for everyone all the time or there is no law
I’ll be most interested to hear any counter-arguments or rebuttals to the main point of this article.
I absolutely agree that importing 10,000 Syrians is an attack on the American people, and should not happen under any circumstances.
But I am also interested in the Constitutional requirements relating to the resolution of this issue.
Do the states have any Constitutional authority to defy Obama?
Oh well, they learned illegality from Obama.
Why in the world are we bringing in Iraq refugees?
Why?
Is China accepting any? Japan? Korea? Thailand? Vietnam? Cambodia? And countries in Asia for that matter?
Why are we?
Is it only illegal for the Republican governors and not the Democrat governors?
Let the Islamists come. When they start slaughtering the libs, I ain’t helping nobody. Maybe I’ll convert to Islam for a while, Insh’Allah.
It’s time for nullification of so many things. States should just reject the notion that the federal government is a controlling legal authority. It really isn’t.
Call obama’s bluff and call out the national guard...
But sanctuary cities are the Mayors right.
Obama is pissed that he doesn’t have ALL of the people’s executive power. There are others who can ORDER people to action too. Like governors, who can order state police to prevent refugees from deplaning, leaving an airport or seaport, etc.
22 governors and counting. Let them try to defy the people and their representatives!
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