In the wake of Friday’s terror attacks in Paris, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is joining other Republican governors in Alabama and Michigan to block refugees from being place in the state. Ducey is going further than those other governors, who want to only block Syrian refugees; Ducey wants to block refugees from anywhere in the world, according to this statement from his office today:
Given the horrifying events in Paris last week, I am calling for an immediate halt in the placement of any new refugees in Arizona. As governor, I am invoking our state’s right under 8 USC, Section 1522 (a), to receive immediate consultation by federal authorities per the United States Refugee Act, and that the federal government take into account the concerns and recommendations of the state of Arizona as they are required to under federal law, in our efforts to keep our homeland safe. I also call on Congress and the President to immediately amend federal law to provide states greater oversight and authority in the administration of the placement of refugees. These acts serve as a reminder that the world remains at war with radical Islamic terrorists. Our national leaders must react with the urgency and leadership that every American expects to protect our citizens.
Update: Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik blasted Ducey’s proposal.
“It’s nice of him to pander to the jingoistic fringe but it shows that he’s out of touch with the reality of what we’re dealing with in Tucson,” Kozachik said.
Kozachik said he’s still seeing many unaccompanied minors and families fleeing gang violence in Central America.
“We’re not in a position to close our borders to these kids,” Kozachik said.
Kozachik said sending the kids back to their home countries is a lousy option.
“Send them back to what?” he asked. “Send them back to conditions of gang violence and young girls being gang-raped by the cartels in Guatemala? That’s a totally ignorant position to take and totally insensitive to the needs of these kids and these families.”
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2015.
Thank you Gov Ducey…Now the next problem…there is a non profit humanitarian group in Mexico trying to allow 10,000 Syrians into Mexico. The President has weakened our border and our resolve. We need federal intervention to remind Mexico if they let this happen it will come with a very high price.
Let’s just say that they won’t be able to “Trump” us.
Liberals, radical progressives (Bill Ayers, Raul Grijalva…) have been trying to destroy the US from the inside for many years. Obama is providing the trojan horses. How many thousands of criminals, rapists, child molesters, and terrorists has he thrust on the American people?
There is a real threat to the security of the United States from Muslim Refugees admitted into this County. We must take steps to protect ourselves by making it clear to the Muslim Community that they are the first line of defense against a terrorist attack in this country by reporting any Muslim that is supportive of the Barbarism of the “Islamic State”. Far more Draconian measures will follow if members of the Muslim Community in the United States are found to be Complicit in any act of Terrorism by the “Islamic State” in this or any other Country.
It only stands to reason the left still does not understand what jihadists have been pursuing since the 7th century.
Please replace the President.
These may be the most uneducated and bigoted responses I have ever seen. You live in America, you live in peace and comfort, and nothing will change that! EVER! These refugees, they have nothing, and they only want a place to go to so they can escape the dangers they cannot control in their home. Put yourself in their shoes, imagine being the person who cannot send their child to school because there are land mines paving the road and rebels that will not think twice to kill any man, woman, or child. These people are not threats to national security, and the fact that you think that you are the ones who are inconvenienced by this makes me sick.
Wake up Jackson Celestin!! You have aptly characterized these Barbarians…”..rebels that will not think twice to kill any man, woman, or child….” …and how do we know that they are a not part of a Muslim Refugee Group? We do not!!! Do you think that they will inter the United States wearing a sign announcing that they are a members/supportive of the “Islamic State”??
We are dealing with Terrorist who will use every furtive/despicable strategy to achieve their Goal…the destruction of Civilized Society. The Muslim Community in the United States MUST police their own Community!!
I think Jackson simply doesn’t understand the basics of survival. Experts have already announced that terrorists are immigrating with Syrian refugees. Europe welcomed them with open arms.
Can you not understand what happened?
But Francis they never policed their last community. What would make them start here?
“These may be the most uneducated and bigoted responses I have ever seen. You live in America, you live in peace and comfort, and nothing will change that! EVER! “
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That just may be the laziest most ignorant statement I have ever read. Freedom requires eternal vigilance. You’re not getting off the sofa are you?
You enjoy your freedoms based on what you think the government and the military are doing to guarantee it. That was yesterday…and yesterday’s gone! Ask Paris.
Jackson. I don’t know if I should feel sorry for you or call you every name under the sun. On 9-11 my friend Charlie Costello, a Local one elevator mechanic was leading a normal, happy life. He was going about his business repairing an elevator 2 blocks from the World Trade Center Towers when the first plane struck. Knowing that the mechanics would need all the help they could get, he grabbed his tools and ran into tower # one. He was never seen again. So Jackson, I ask you to put yourself in the shoes of his wife and THREE daughters.
So our brilliant businessman-governator Ducey wants to exclude refugees from the Syrian Civil War because Muslim fundamentalists launched terrorist attacks in Paris? Using that logic, his Italian immigrant ancestors (and those of his shill Dan Scarpinato)should have been denied entry to the U.S. because a few bomb throwing anarchists and mafiosos were immigrants from Italy. And Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio’s families should have been denied entry because a few of the Cubans who immigrated here turned out to Commie spies, drug dealers or Watergate burglars.
We have turned away refugees in the past for bad reasons but FDR was still reelected. I wonder if these protests are more about getting the president and Congress to better consider allowing the refugees a haven despite the concerns of the citizenry? Should the citizenry have a greater say in who is relocated into the state?
Someone cited the annual numbers being the equivalent of just a few people in neighborhoods across the country per year. What I have not seen ANYONE here do, including Mr.Kozachik, is propose that we form a “resettlement committee” to address the concerns of both sides and make this a workable program. So far, nothing but useless noise.
Mr. Saitta, I have correctly characterized the barbarians, but the barbarians are not the millions of innocent men, women, and children who want asylum. The barbarians are the people they are running from. It is well-established that these extremists are exactly that, extremists and do not represent the Muslim community as a whole. So how many more innocent Syrian people have to die because some of us cannot accept them as victims? To use your logic, you would justify returning the millions of Jews that came from Germany because they were German, or interning the hundreds of thousands of Japanese-Americans because they are Japanese. There is no moral or legal justification you can make to deny our obligation to help those in need, especially when they suffer in the world system we created. And also, the United States holds the 12th most refugees behind countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria, and Iran. You want Muslims to be peaceful? Do not leave them to rot and slowly die in a country that can barely support itself let alone a refugee population that represents 10 to almost 33% of it’s overall population.
Mr. David W, you are right, I am not Bear Grilles. I have never had to go out and kill something with own two hands for dinner, nor have I ever had to kill a man in self-defense. But I am pretty sure the majority of America has not either. Hell, I am willing to bet a great majority of any modern democratic society has not had to! You want to know why we have not had to? Because we live in the longest standing democracy in the world where our needs and interests are represented in a governing body that we trust to be in our best-interest as both people and a country. You know who does have to worry about surviving every day? Refugees in Syria, children in Central and South America, people who are victims of atrocities in their homes and cannot do anything about it because their state is so corrupt and unable (and sometimes unwilling) to help and protect its citizens. So to be honest, I am not afraid for my basic need to survive, because if I die today at the hands of ISIS I can at least be sured that my death will be sought after with justice and that I have lived with more freedom than a majority of the world.
Mr. Jensen, I admire your patriotism, as I admire, respect, and hold up any and all members of the armed forces for what they have, are doing, and will do to protect our freedom and liberties. But I think you misinterpret what I am saying. I enjoy my freedom and liberties so much, that I want everyone in the world to have the ability to have a conversation like we are having without fear of persecution from their government. And if you would allow me a little bit of vanity, I did just help 10 children from Guatemala and Honduras gain asylum in the United States after they were trafficked into the United States and then extorted and mutilated by AMERICAN gangs in Arizona and Texas. So as long I can keep helping people that way, maybe this couch is not that bad of place to work from.
And finally, Mr. CW3, first of all are you related to C3PO or R2D2? Second, I welcome you to call me any name under the sun, stars, moons, or what ever celestial bodies you want. As for your friend, I must admit I cannot say I would have his courage or valor to do what he did. But to the same token, the purpose of terrorism is to instill fear. Should we give the terrorists what they want by fearing every refugee who wants asylum or should we stick to our American traditions as a nation of immigrants and continue to help the world when we can?
I do apologize for calling the earlier responses uneducated and bigoted, that was unprofessional, and I hope you can forgive me as my midterms are turning me into quite the stressball.
Jackson Celestin…again… WAKE UP to the reality of what/who we care dealing with..the Terrorist “Islamic State”
“…..There is no moral or legal justification you can make to deny our obligation to help those in need, especially when they suffer in the world system we created..”
Moral/Legal Justification”…THE NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES!!!…again…WAKE UP!!! and stop spouting mere Shibboleths!!
Jackson. The goal of terrorists is not to make us fear refugees. Their goal is to kill us all plain and simple. If school stresses you out so much why not quit and join the Peace Corps, an admirable option?
Sorry jackson but you sound like a 20 year old that may have already attended too much college. Somebody has filled your head with rainbows, lollipops and unicorns. You may not have enough experience to grasp the reality of this situation. Give yourself some quiet, thoughtful time, like 30 or 40 years to actually generate accurate opinions of the real world as it is, not as somebody told you it was.
I have never heard anybody proclaim if ISIS killed them they would not worry justice would be pursued. Take your time, there is going to be so much more to LIVE for.
Thanks for the apology for name calling.
“Vetted” means there passports were viewed by Honduran officials.
Authorities in Honduras have detained “five Syrian nationals who were trying to reach the United States using stolen Greek passports” and, as Fox reports, the five “Syrians were trying to arrive in the U.S. by land, presumably by traveling through Mexico:”
The group of Syrian men was held late on Tuesday in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on arrival from Costa Rica and they were planning to head to the border with neighboring Guatemala. The passports had been doctored to replace the photographs with those of the Syrians, police said.
Also according to Fox, the five “suspects remain in police custody.”
How’s that border wall coming along?
To be honest, I feel like I’ve gotten to the point where I will end up repeating myself, so these are the last things I’m going to say.
Mr. Siatta, orphaned children are not a national security, and if you choose to leave the hundreds of thousands of them to fend for themselves, they will resent countries like the United States who left them to be on their own and probably be the terrorists of tomorrow.
Mr. CW13, you are right terrorists are not trying to scare us from taking in refugees. They’re intentions are to be violent and deadly, but barring out those who are running away from the same people we are fighting does not help to solve the problem. Like I told Mr. Siatta, there is the chance you are making more terrorists for the future. Also, to get a job in the Peace Corps you need to be qualified, and you usually get qualified by getting a hire education. Ipso facto, I think I am doing what is required to eventually get a job with the Peace Corps. I will keep my options open.
Mr. David W, you do not need to apologize. I do consider my education to be quite thorough, and I am blessed to have an experience that most people will never have. It is because of that education that I think I may have an unique perspective about the world, especially since international relations is what I will be doing for the rest of my life. So please, do not think I would waste your time if I did not know what I was talking about.