syrian refugee crisis

November 25, 2015November 28, 2015

RIPDA rebukes Langevin’s vote on Syrian refugee bill

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The Rhode Island Progressive Democrats vehemently opposed bill H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies SAFE Act. On November 19th this bill passed the House by a vote of 289-137, with only 47 Democrats voting in favor of it. Sadly, Representative Langevin was one of them.

This bill is a continuation of an overreach by the right wing conservative majority that has over taken the House of Representatives. The vetting process for refugees entering this country is already more than sufficient. These additional layers of bureaucracy are completely unnecessary. They put an undue burden on our security departments, and they will unnecessarily increase the time that it takes for Syrian refugees to be admitted. And with a military budget of $600 billion we should all wonder why the implementation of effective and expedited screening isn’t already in place.

It can take years for refugees to be allowed to enter this country. With these additional redundant and unnecessary security checks it could delay the process even longer. President Obama has promised to veto the legislation and one would think that a Democratic Representative of a supposedly blue state would support the President on such an important issue.

By siding with the Republican right wing majority, Langevin sets himself apart from the compassionate and understanding legislators who know that there needs to be a balance with security and timeliness in getting refugees vetted and resettled in this country. His actions show, once again that the D next to his name means nothing. He has shamed the state, our founding father Roger Williams, and all of the great people of Rhode Island who want to do more for the people of Syria.

The people of Syria have no choice but to leave their homeland due in large part to the United States destabilizing the region in the first place. The people of Syria are not Daesh. They are civilians who want to live in peace, who want to have shelter, who want to save the lives of their children.

Langevin’s reaction to this crisis is just another reason why 2016 should be his last year in Congress.

November 24, 2015February 22, 2016

Langevin defends voting with GOP on Syrian refugee bill

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Congressman Jim Langevin defended his support of a GOP-backed bill that would add more layers of bureaucracy to the process of accepting Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

“After reading the bill, I was convinced that it does not stop the process, it really doesn’t shut the program down, nor does it significantly slow it,” Langevin told RI Future in an interview, which you can listen to in its entirety below. “It added modest layer of new security in terms of the vetting process but nothing that would shut down or significantly slow the vetting process, and that’s ultimately why I supported it.”

He said it wasn’t difficult to vote against President Obama, who strongly urged Democrats not to support the Republican-backed bill. “All of my decisions are based on the merits. They don’t belong to a particular party or special interest.”

Langevin, who told me he didn’t see State Sen. Elaine Morgan’s comments about Islam and Muslim refugees, said he thinks the United States should accept more Syrian refugees than the 10,000 Obama has called for – and that he thinks the government should add resources to ensure the refugee process moves quicker.

“I strongly support additional resources that will expedite the process,” he said. “The best thing we can do to make sure we’re not slowing the process down is put more resources into vetting so we can speed it up.”

When asked how he thinks Rhode Islanders feel about the issue, he said, “I’ve heard from people on both sides of this issue.”

You can listen to our full 20 minute conversation on his vote in particular and the Syrian refugee crisis in general here:

November 19, 2015November 19, 2015

Dems draw more with love than GOP does with fear

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There were two events at the State House today about the Syrian refugee crisis. A group of Democratic lawmakers, faith leaders and former refugees rallied to support the United State’s role in helping refugees of war in the Middle East while a smaller group of Republican legislators and anti-immigration activists spoke against helping the refugees.

To give you an idea of what Rhode Island thinks of these dueling perspectives, note the size of the crowd in the two pictures I took today.

Here is the Democratic rally in favor of helping refugees:

And here’s the Republican event against helping refugees:

And here are a few more stories RI Future has reported on the Syrian refugee crisis: