Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz argued, “seems more upset that Republicans are calling for protecting this country than he is that ISIS terrorists murdered 129 people in Paris” and argued “we need fundamental reforms to the visa waiver system” on Thursday’s “Happening Now” on the Fox News Channel.
Cruz said, “instead of engaging in political warfare, how about the president do his job as commander-in-chief? He seems more upset that Republicans are calling for protecting this country than he is that ISIS terrorists murdered 129 people in Paris. … And the president should be protecting this nation, not insulting you and me, and millions of Americans, calling us un-American, because we want to keep to defend this nation and we want to keep our children safe.”
Cruz then talked about legislation he introduced that “would have barred refugees from coming to America from countries where ISIS or al Qaeda controls significant amounts of territory. It would have focused on Syria, and Iraq, and Libya, and Somalia, and Yemen. And that is because we cannot determine who is a terrorist and who is not. And so, it would have, for three years, blocked refugees from coming to America. Now, we can assist in resettling those refugees in the Middle East, in majority-Muslim countries, and right now America is already providing ten times more money for resettling refugees than any other country on earth. So, when the president postures about compassion, America’s a compassionate country, but we shouldn’t risk the safety and security of American citizens.” Cruz continued that ISIS is engaging in genocide against Christians, and this legislation has an exemption for “those facing genocide.” Cruz further said, “what’s astonishing, among the Syrian refugees who’ve come to America, do you know that only three percent have been Christians? Why does the president get so angry at those of us who want to help provide a safe haven for Christians being persecuted, but he’s not angry at ISIS terrorists. He won’t even call them radical Islamic terrorists, instead, he defends them. I think that’s really backwards.”
He added, “the legislation calls I introduced calls for vigorous background checks. You know, if you look at it, there’s no history of ISIS attempting to embed in the Christian community and pretending to be Christians four years back, and so the statute provides that if they’re people who subject to genocide, they have the burden of proof to prove, by overwhelming evidence, that they are indeed a member of that persecuted community, and that they are facing a threat, and they don’t pose a terrorist threat.”
Cruz also stated, “we need fundamental reforms to the visa waiver system, given the prevalence of radical Islamic terrorism in Europe. That is a serious concern.” He also pointed to his legislation that would strip US citizenship from Americans who join ISIS.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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