Mass Live: Congressman Seth Moulton, US should accept more Syrian refugees

U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts, on Monday sent a letter signed by 73 members of Congress to Secretary of State John Kerry urging the United States to accept more Syrian refugees.

"The slow pace of current Syrian refugee admissions will not help our national security," Moulton and his colleagues wrote. "In fact, it will only give credence to those who wish to undermine our values."\

After the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando last week, a group of 85 U.S. House Republicans planned to introduce a measure to temporarily ban the resettlement of all refugees in the U.S., Foreign Policy reported. The Republicans, led by Texas U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, say refugees pose a threat to public safety if the U.S. does not adequately vet them.

The Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, was the American-born son of Afghan immigrants.

In response, Moulton joined U.S. Rep. David Cicilline and Bill Pascrell, both New Jersey Democrats, in circulating the letter among House Democrats urging the U.S. to do more to meet its goal of resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees by the time the 2016 fiscal year ends in September.

So far this year, the U.S. has accepted only 2,805 Syrian refugees. That is likely because the U.S. has an extensive screening process in place before it accepts refugees.

"These are the people that ISIS is persecuting," Moulton said in a statement. "There's nobody who knows the terror of ISIS better than these refugees. When we refuse to help the enemies of ISIS, we empower ISIS and aid their recruitment."\

Millions of Syrians have been displaced during the current civil war and have fled to neighboring countries and to Europe. President Barack Obama has set a goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees this year.

"Falling short of even this goal is not in keeping with our democratic values and professed role as a leader among nations and a beacon of hope for those seeking safety from war," the congressional Democrats wrote.

The House Democrats argue that since the Syrian government and the terrorist group ISIS are enemies of the U.S., denying safe haven to the refugees would "let these adversaries win." The letter noted that Canada admitted 27,000 Syrian refugees over a six-month period, while Europe has taken hundreds of thousands. The Democrats said they support the continued use of existing screening methods to ensure the refugees that are let in do not pose a threat.

Other members of Massachusetts's all-Democratic legislation to sign the letter were U.S. Reps. Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, Joe Kennedy, Michael Capuano, Niki Tsongas, Katherine Clark and Bill Keating. The only member of the Massachusetts delegation not to sign was U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch.

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