Jeb Bush Says Trump Sending Back Refugees ‘Appalling’ — If Refugees Are Christians
Jeb Bush is taking a stand against Donald Trump’s call for sending Syrian refugees right back to the region — at least the Christian ones, anyway.
Bush, who has called for letting in only those refugees who “can prove [they]’re a Christian,” was interviewed Friday by conservative talk radio host Michael Medved, who asked Bush about Trump’s campaign promise to repatriate all the asylum seekers if he’s elected.
“I think it’s appalling,” Bush said. “If we’ve screened refugees — if you’re a Christian Syrian, who but for the good fortune of escaping and crossing through ISIS territory and crossing the Turkish border, stuck in a refugee camp, and you go through the process to prove you’re not an Islamic terrorist, you come to the United States, this noble country — to send them back to their slaughter? I find it appalling. We stand for a lot more than that.”
“I understand people believe that there’s huge potential threats here,” Bush also added. “So let’s screen them properly, but let’s don’t send people back that have been screened — who, maybe only because they believe in Jesus Christ as their savior, will be beheaded. I just, I reject that out of hand. I apologize.”
Medved then asked: “Will you feel the same way about sending back Muslims who have come here to the United States?
Jeb hemmed and hawed briefly, before arriving at his answer. “I don’t think — if they’ve been screened properly, and people are satisfied with the screening process — no,” he said, “not until there is a clear level of security, which only the United States can lead to create.”
In fact there is a very thorough process the United States uses to screen refugees before they ever arrive here. The whole ordeal of vetting currently takes 18 to 24 months — a sharp contrast with the main refugee situation in Europe, where the vast crowds of desperate people are swarming in.
Bush then continued seamlessly: “It’s time for us to take a step forward, based on the positive American values that separate us from the rest of the world, and believe in our greatness again — believe in American leadership again.”
(Hat tip BuzzFeed.)
Photo: U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush speaks at a town hall meeting at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina November 17, 2015. REUTERS/Randall Hill
