The chorus against allowing Syrian refugees into Illinois is growing a little louder after West Central Illinois’ political delegation chimed in.
Governor Rauner announced on Monday he was checking out legal avenues to keep the refugees out until a proven vetting process could screen out possible ISIS infiltrators.
Eight Illinois Congressmen, including 13 District representative Rodney Davis and 18th District representative Darin LaHood have sent a letter urging President Obama to engage in a comprehensive strategy with American allies to defeat ISIS and suspend the flow of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S.
However, the other side of the aisle is seeing the situation different.
“Several people [in the United States] have reacted to the tragedy in France, by calling for us to suspend refugees coming to this country. Many of these people have not reflected on the refugee situation in our country,” U.S. Senator Dick Durbin said on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
“Each year the United States of America accepts about 70,000 refugees from around the world. These refugees are each carefully investigated, reviewed and vetted. We do everything humanly possible and take extraordinary efforts to make certain that dangerous people do not arrive on our shores,” he continued.
U.S. Senator Mark Kirk sent a letter to the President urging that his administration “ensure that no members, supporters or sympathizers” of Islamic State infiltrate Syrian refugee movements to enter the U.S.
Specifically, the letter asked the administration to detail what “special or enhanced measures” will be added to screen Syrian refugees.”
Chicago congressman Luis Gutierrez is blasting Governor Rauner. On the floor of the U.S. House, Gutierrez called the governors banning refugees “despicable and cowardly,” and said their decision is exactly what ISIS wants.
He also said Rauner and the others know they are overstepping their authority with their executive orders, because they can’t actually stop federally-approved refugees from coming to their states.
Information from wire sources was used in this story.