Posted on 06/21/2016 7:32:47 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday evening there was “zero evidence” that refugee applicants who go through the rigorous screening involved in the U.S. refugee admission program pose a greater security threat than members of any other group.
Speaking at the interfaith iftar (Ramadan fast-breaking meal) in Sterling, Va. coinciding with World Refugee Day, Kerry also warned that what he called “bigoted and hateful rhetoric” about Muslims helps those “who propagate the lie that America is at war with Islam.”
“There is absolutely no evidence, my friends, zero evidence, that refugees who make it through this arduous process, pose any greater threat to our society than the members of any other group,” he said. “And it is important for people to know that.”
Alluding to calls by some Republican politicians to bar Muslim refugee applicants, Kerry said blocking any group on the basis of religion, race or nationality went against Americans ideals.
“Preventing any group from entering the United States solely because of their race, or because of their nationality, or because of a religious affiliation is directly contrary to the very ideals on which our country is based,” he said.
“We believe in individual rights, not collective guilt. And we believe in judging people based on what they do, not the circumstances of their birth or their choice of sacred texts,” Kerry added.
“We need to remember,” he continued, “that bigoted and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims plays right into the hands of the terrorist recruiters who propagate the lie – it plays into the hands of people who propagate the lie that America is at war with Islam, when in fact there is no country on earth where Muslims enjoy more freedom than in the United States of America.”
After Kerry’s remarks at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) center, a member the community and the U.S. Army National Guard, Ali Khwaja, offered the Islamic call to prayer before the day’s fast was broken.
In his comments Kerry did not address the issue, raised by some Republicans and the subject of proposed legislation, of prioritizing in refugee admissions minorities that have been specifically targeted by Islamic extremists in the Syria and Iraq conflicts – and which Kerry himself has determined are the victims of genocide.
As of Monday, the federal government had admitted 4,464 Syrian refugees so far this fiscal year, of whom just 17 (0.3 percent) are Christians, 10 (0.2 percent) are Yazidis, and one each are defined in State Department Refugee Processing Center data as “no religion” and “other religion.”
The vast majority of the 4,464 – 4,385, or 98.2 percent – are Sunni Muslims. Another 17 are Shi’ite Muslims and 33 are other Muslims.
With regard to Kerry’s comments about the relative threat posed by refugees, State Department spokesman John Kirby said last November that of 785,000 refugees from all countries admitted to the U.S. since 9/11, “only about a dozen have been arrested or removed from the United States due to terrorism concerns that existed prior to their resettlement in the United States.”
None of them were Syrian, he added.
A State Department factsheet last December said that Syrian refugees admitted to the U.S. since the beginning of FY2011 had been able to do so “only after the most extensive level of security screening of any category of traveler to the United States. None have been arrested or removed on terrorism charges.”
ABC News reported late last year that two Iraqi refugees resettled in Kentucky were later found to have al-Qaeda links.
In January, two Iraqi-born Palestinian refugees in the U.S. were indicted on terror-related charges.
Omar Faraj Saeed al-Hardan of Houston, Texas, was charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, procuring citizenship or naturalization unlawfully, and making false statements. He was admitted into the U.S. as a refugee in 2009.
Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, of Sacramento, Calif., was accused of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist groups, and was also charged with lying to the government about his travels. He arrived in the U.S. as a refugee in 2012.
These idiots, Obama, Hillary, Kerry, are bringing in the illegals from South of the border and the middle east to fill the void left in America by 80,000,000 abortions.
Seems we made a very bad trade. At least the poor little American abortees would have been real Americans that had a chance to be assimilated.
As Rumsfeld said: the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
It’s the “no evidence” BS line again....
This fool should have realized he was lucky to escape being court martialed after killing a wounded Vietnamese by shooting him in the back, but once a fool, always a fool.
Go for it, John F’n!
Exactly.
You never find what you don’t look for.
What was he going to say?
The truth.
That nothing, no matter how horrible,
ever really happens
without the approval of the government.
Over there, and here.
The problem isn’t the doing.
It’s the people in power having to admit
that they knew.
The prisoners are tortured
at Abu Ghraib,
and only the underlings go to jail.
Their bosses knew.
We know their bosses knew.
But you don’t say it.
Is their Koranic game plan evidence?
Thanks for those links, A10.
(oops) Previous post was taken from the movie SHOOTER and is Senator Meachum speaking to Bob Lee Swagger.
What was your price Mr Kerry? Did they threaten you as well?
An obvious lie. “Any” other group? Ok, Girl Scouts of America. Let’s compare felony rates. How are those refugees looking now? Oh, you didn’t literally mean “any” other group? Then how can we trust you that you meant any part of your statement Mr Kerry? Lying POS.
Remember the saying that “if you want to see who is in power, then find out who it is you are not allowed to criticize.
I have noticed that particular attention is being paid to ‘not criticizing’ Muslims, particularly, and almost exclusively, those from SYRIA.
O went to Prep School with guys like Kerry. They got good grades, but they were wealthy idiots,
STFU Lurch!
Kerry is deflecting the true nature of the situation. The Trojan Horse is not the problem. It is who is inside the Trojan Horse.
Islam does not believe in freedom. They believe in submission to Allah. The prime directive of Islam is to bring all people on earth under the rule of Islamic law. The method of that submission is dictated by their leaders and justified by the Koran. It is totalitarianism which is enforced by Sharia Law. To believe that Islam, a political Theo-fascism, is not at war with the Western Culture's Judaeo-Christian system of values, is pure fantasy. The purpose of Islam is to promote submission to Allah and their Theo-fascist designs for the world. The non-Muslims need to be saved from the sin of following laws other than Allah's. If they won't voluntarily change their laws to Sharia, then it is a Muslim's duty to do it by force.
Look at the example set by Mohammad. He used caravan raids, warfare, executions, sexual slavery, ransoming captives and assassination. Within ten years he converted tens of thousands. After he died, his followers used the same tactics and converted millions. It is his example that his followers use today and will continue to use. Those who think the answer is to appease this threat on our culture are the same who thought Hitler could be appeased. The lust for conquest cannot ever be appeased.
It is coming time to Swift Boat Ketchup John again. He should have been terminated from the political landscape back in 2004. Instead, because of his value to the Left, he lives to destroy the American culture and change it into a socialistic system. He is the product of the 1960s which saw the efforts of Soviet infiltrators change the culture of the American Universities. Those universities became the transmission belts to the Communist ideology designed to destroy America. John Kerry is a Communist sympathizer along with Obama, the Clintons, Bill Ayers, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jessie Jackson, Van Jones, Anita Dunn, David Bonior, Valerie Jarrett, Patrick Gaspard, Mark Lloyd, Mike Klonsky, Marilyn Katz, Earl Durham, Carl Davidson, Timuel Black, Lou Pardo, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and many others.
We have seen that any evidence will be redacted or ignored. Of course there is zero evidence of the danger posed by the terrorists Obama consciously imports if FedGov refuses to record or release such evidence.
If Kerry had half a brain it would be lonely.
Kerry is the poster boy for “Ignorance is bliss.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.