Jeb Bush Suggests Christian-Only Refugee Policy After Paris Attacks
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush suggested that the United States should grant asylum to Christian refugees only to deal with the security issue in Europe and in the United States.
Jeb Bush's suggestion for a Christian-only refugee policy was made in response to the coordinated terror attacks in Paris last week. The Republican presidential candidate said the United States should start carefully screening out the non-Christian refugees from Syria, according to Raw Story.
"As it relates to the refugees, I think we need to do thorough screening. And take a limited number," Raw Story quotes Bush's statement to CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday.
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Bush added that the best response to the refugee crisis is to form safe zones within Syria to prevent migrants from putting their lives in danger. He also said the move will help prevent national security issues for both Europe and the United States, the report details.
However, Bush said the United States should focus on helping the Christians in Syria who are in danger of being executed by ISIS or Assad. The former Florida governor said these Christians should be allowed to seek asylum in the United States, the report relays.
When questioned how the screeners would be able to identify the Christian refugees, Bush said the United States already implements screening practices. But he added that they need to be even more cautious than before. One of the suspects in the Paris attacks is believed to have entered Europe as an asylum seeker from Syria. The coordinated attacks in the French capital left 129 people dead, The Week reports.
In the wake of Bush's suggestion, U.S. President Barack Obama slammed the Republican candidates who are in favor of a Christian-only refugee policy. During the closing of the G20 summit in Turkey, the president said the act of closing the U.S. doors to non-Christians and conducting a religious test for asylum seekers is "not American" and is a shameful act.
Other Republican candidates aside from Jeb Bush who have expressed the idea of blocking Syrian refugees from entering the United States include Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Bobby Jindal, and Ben Carson. Donald Trump, on the other hand, said he would consider closing all the mosques in the country.
