Jeb: There Should Be ‘Temporary’ Refugee Ban on Refugees Until ‘Clear’ There Aren’t Any Terrorists

Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush argued, “we should have a temporary ban on refugees coming here” until “it’s clear that there aren’t any terrorists embedded,” but “blanket coverage of all Muslims doesn’t make sense” on Friday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

Jeb stated, [relevant remarks begin around 5:15] “I think we should have a temporary ban on refugees coming here until we’re — it’s clear that there aren’t any terrorists embedded, but if we — if a Kurd wanted to come to this country, the strongest supporters of the United States in the region, that are Muslim, I’m not sure that’s the appropriate thing, or an Indonesian, blanket coverage of all Muslims doesn’t make sense, but the key here is to have a strategy to destroy ISIS. We need safe havens inside of Syria, the best refugee solution is to make sure they don’t leave, to give them safe harbor and build a Sunni-led force in Syria to mobilize support with the Arab world to take out ISIS.”

He added that if people can’t be vetted, “they shouldn’t come in. That’s my point. I think that the focus on the refugee issue, which is what the Congress is looking at, is the appropriate thing to do. If you can’t convince the American people, based on fact, that you’ve changed your policies to assure that that wouldn’t happen, then of course, they shouldn’t be allowed in.”

Jeb also criticized President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s ISIS strategies, arguing that both “believe that we can have a law enforcement exercise. As it relates to taking it to ISIS in Syria and Iraq, they have put so many constraints on the war fighters, including, by the way, sending leaflets out to truck drivers that sending illicit oil to be sold by the Assad regime and by Turkey, sending warning signals that we were going to bomb them. In a Bush administration, those truck drivers would be bombed, because they’re leaving ISIS- controlled territories. You want to deter truck drivers from driving to the north, kill a few of them, because they are part and parcel of this effort to create this caliphate and sustain it.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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