SLAMMING the door on Syrian refugees would be a betrayal of America's values, declared Barack Obama on November 16th. Refugees should not, he said, be conflated with terrorists. “The people who are fleeing Syria are the most harmed by terrorism, the most vulnerable as a consequence of civil war,” he said, speaking at the G20 summit in Turkey, days after attacks in Paris that killed 129 and wounded more than 350. We must “not close our hearts to the victims of such violence”. Then, without naming them, he chided “political leaders” back home who want to give preferential treatment to Christian refugees. “That's not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion.”Powerful words from the president who was at his oratorical best. Yet in spite of his exhortations, 22 Republican governors declared on the same day that they would not accept any Syrian refugees in their state, in defiance of Mr Obama’s plan to resettle 10,000 Syrians in America over the next year. There were reports that some were asking leading Republicans to insert a provision in December's speding bill that would bar more Syrian settlers, leading to speculation that this could even spark a shutdown. One Democratic governor, meanwhile, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, asked the Obama administration to stop letting in Syrians until the federal vetting procedures for all ...
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