At least 30 United States governors, including Rick Scott of Florida, adamantly oppose President Barack Obama’s promise to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees to this country by the end of 2016.
The refusal took the form of a bill the U.S. House of Representatives passed in November that would have made it harder for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to enter the U.S. by enforcing increased security restrictions.
But on Jan. 20, the Senate blocked the bill in a 55-43 vote, with the number of yes votes falling short of the 60 needed. All three of the Senate Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, backed the bill
In reporting the decision, Al-Jazeera English correspondent Kimberly Halkett said that in the end, the Senate felt the bill unfairly targeted Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
“Critics of this legislation said that this would, in many ways, be very unfair and penalize those refugees in comparison to others who are trying to come to the United States from other countries … in that there is already extensive vetting taking place,” she said.
While a majority of the Democrats in Congress support Obama’s proposal, many Republican politicians continue to look for reasons to block certain refugee groups.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted in March 2011, approximately 250,000 people have been killed and over 6 million Syrians have been displaced both internally and externally.
According to the Associated Press, around a half-million Syrians were among the 1 million refugees who entered Europe last year in the “biggest migration the continent has seen since World War II.”
Turkey is hosting almost 3 million Syrian refugees, and more than 2,000 have entered the U.S.
And 2,000, some say, is more than enough.
After the terrorist attacks in Paris and the San Bernardino shooting on our own soil – which followed several other attacks – recent polls show that a majority of Americans are hesitant to allow border access to refugees.
In another attempt to slow admittance, some Republicans suggested granting access to only Christian refugees, causing further national unease with the increase of religious tensions on the matter.
The U.S. has contributed more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid for Syria and neighboring countries, making it the crisis’ largest contribution in the world. This is in addition to the 400 U.S. soldiers already protecting Syrians who are living under extreme conditions.
Moreover, a new ceasefire deal introduced on Feb. 11 calls for diplomats around the world to agree on supplying more refugee aid as well as a weeklong ceasefire.
Despite opposition, some refugees have been welcomed in the U.S.
In December, a Syrian scientist who settled in Michigan was personally welcomed by Obama and invited to the State of Union address by first lady Michelle Obama.
In 2013, the refugee, Refaai Hamo, lost his wife, one daughter and five other relatives to a bombing of his home – which he had built himself – and now has stomach cancer. He and his three surviving daughters and son arrived Dec. 17.
Among others who have entered the country include 12 families interviewed by Brandon Stanton, founder of “Humans of New York,” a well-known blog that features portraits and interviews gathered from New York City streets.
Stanton interviewed another family that moved to Clearwater after waiting years to get through the vetting process.
In the interview, a young boy in the family said that he hopes “there is a good tree in Florida, because I’d like to build a treehouse where we can have some adventures.”
