Governors Of 24 States Slam Door On Syrian Refugees

Syrians who escaped their homeland are harvesting the negative impact of their fellow misguided Muslims in the aftermath of the Friday night Paris terror attacks. One of the bombers at Stade de France had a Syrian passport.

As a result, nations are wary of taking in Syrian refugees for fear that some members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) would sneak in with legitimate asylum seekers and eventually kill citizens. In the U.S., at least 24 governors have slammed the door on Syrian refugees.

Among the states that would refuse refugees are Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Maine and New Hampshire. CNN observes that except for one state, the 23 states have Republican governors, indicating the decision is along political lines.

The Republicans have consistently opposed immigration reforms introduced by U.S. President Barack Obama, a Democrat. The country's bulk of immigrants, though, are from Mexico, Latin American and Asian nations.

Although since 2011, only 1,500 Syrian refugees had been accepted by Washington, in September, before the Paris carnage happened, the Obama government said the U.S. would accept 10,000 Syrian refuges in 2016.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized the decision of the governors who comprise almost half of the states. In a statement on Monday, the council said, "Defeating ISIS involves projecting American ideals to the world. Governors who reject those fleeing war and persecution abandon our ideals and instead project our fears to the world."

The UN shared the council's sentiments. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the body understand that need of nations to put in place measures to protect citizens from any form of terrorism, "But focusing that on refugees, vulnerable people who are themselves fleeing violence, would not be the right way to go."

Dujarric adds, "These are people who are fleeing the very destruction of Daesh that we have seen in Paris," quotes Aranews.