Posted on 11/21/2015 11:31:02 AM PST by TroutStalker
After liberals widely condemned Jared Polis' vote this week in favor of a GOP-authored measure adding an extra step in the vetting of Syrians and Iraqis refugees, the congressman on Friday called the backlash a misinterpretation that was "very painful" to him personally.
"I've received plenty of calls, tweets, letters and Facebook messages about my vote," the Boulder Democrat wrote in a statement on his Facebook page. "Many people unfortunately interpreted my vote yesterday as a vote against refugees. ...nothing could be further from the truth."
The bill that Polis supported is dubbed the SAFE Act, and would force those seeking refuge in the U.S. from violence perpetrated by the Islamic State to be individually certified by the FBI before entering the country.
That certification would hinge on an FBI investigation "sufficient to determine whether the covered alien is a threat to the security" of the U.S.
A day before the bill was voted upon in the House, President Barack Obama threatened to veto it, and the White House argued that the bill offers "unnecessary and impractical" steps, and that its passage would "unacceptably hamper our efforts to assist some of the most vulnerable people in the world."
But by a roughly 2-to-1 margin, the bill passed the House, with Polis and 46 other Democrats joining 242 Republicans in support.
Polis faced heavy criticism on social media and in private correspondences from pockets of his largely liberal constituency.
The vote from Polis — founder of a charter school network that benefits refugees and immigrants, and author of a memorable fit on the House floor arguing for the passage of comprehensive immigration reform — struck some as uncharacteristic and disloyal.
On Twitter, the hashtag "#PolisPoems" was born.
"Your city was leveled / We don't think that's fair. But we're scared and suspicious / Too much so to care," one such "poem" read.
Read another: "You say you're a progressive. So act like one. Your vote (with) xenophobes is repulsive."
In his statement Friday, Polis noted that he has recommended that Obama welcome 100,000 Syrians to the U.S. — the President has called for 10,000 — but said he also favors a closer look at possible security holes in the country's refugee policies.
"We MUST do more than simply accepting an additional 10,000 refugees when we have the capacity to help so many more and our European allies are so strained," he wrote. "In light of the ever-evolving threat of violent extremism, however, I believe that we must also be willing to collectively re-examine our screening procedures in order to ensure the safety of our communities."
Polis called the current debate about the SAFE Act "unfortunate."
"I don't believe we have to choose between a robust vetting process and accepting refugees," he wrote. "I believe we can and must do both."
Remind Obama's peeps of this...........Every dollar given to supposed refugees is a dollar not going to you.
Alinsky rule #13: identify, isolate, freeze and escalate
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