Posted on Nov 16, 2015
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
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Do you know the reasons behind Texas, and other states refusing Syrian Refugees? I'm sure many have heard about State Governors refusing to take in Syrian Refugees that are being brought in the day after the attacks in Paris. Below is an article that states the reasons for Texas refusing to accept more refugees.

Greg Abbott by the way does not lack compassion. He was Attorney General for Texas during Hurricane Katrina and worked to bring as many people from New Orleans to Houston as could be done by air and buses.

Read the article before commenting. Apparently there is standing for his and other Governor's refusal to accept refugees. http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/texas-news/2015/11/16/governor-greg-abbott-texas-syrian-refugees-letter-to-obama/75867476/
Posted in these groups: 996d161d Refugees
Edited 9 y ago
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Responses: 37
SGT Francis Wright
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Yes because they want to kill us. Even if it is only 10%. Let me put it this way; if you were given a bowl of m&m's and told only a couple were poisoned. Would you still eat them.
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SGT Francis Wright
SGT Francis Wright
9 y
PO3 Sherry Thornburg - Sometimes I can have a logical thought. Thank you.
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SFC Michael Hasbun
SFC Michael Hasbun
9 y
Not really. We aren't talking about inanimate candy. We are talking about human beings.
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
SFC Michael Hasbun - which makes it much more poisonous if ISIS people are in these groups the way they have blended into refugee groups across Europe.
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SGT Francis Wright
SGT Francis Wright
9 y
PO3 Sherry Thornburg - Yes it does, because that's their whole agenda. Redirection and deception; then strike when it's least expected. It's ISIS hope for complacency.
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LTC Stephen F.
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Edited 9 y ago
CPT L S - since you brought up the subject "When we are remembered like those who turned away the Jews, when Hitler was burning them. When we allowed our fellows to put the Nisei into camps. When we allowed our minorities to be abused, even as we served alongside them in combat."
My British family cared for a Slav immediately after WWII ended who was tortured at Treblinka by the Nazis. I met him when I was a teenager. Many British families cared for former prisoner of the Reich.
In this nation the Japanese and American Indians were kept in camps and on reservations to protect the USA citizens. Before we got involved in WWII, America turned away the Jews and did not believe they were being exterminated by Hitler who was praised by the Muslim Grand Mufti of Jerusalem or Hitler's solution too the "Jewish problem."
Until the "Syrian Refugees" are properly vetted allowing so many into this nation is risky. I am more concerned about the 1,854 Syrian asylum seekers who came here since 2012. Assad agents and ISIS informants would love to learn where those defectors went to in this nation. SGT Efaw (Mick) G. SSG Gerhard S. SP5 Michael Rathbun SP5 Mark Kuzinski SSgt Alex Robinson PO3 Sherry Thornburg
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LTC Stephen C.
LTC Stephen C.
9 y
I would like to think so too, SP5 Michael Rathbun, but I completed C&GSOC in '91 and retired in '98, so what do I know?!
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LTC Stephen F.
LTC Stephen F.
9 y
Capt Gregory Prickett - Thanks for the historical reference.
Is that true for all tribes?
I am curious if all American indigenous groups are citizens of the USA why can some live on reservations in this nation which are subject to tribal laws and not the state laws in which the reservation exists.
I understand that all people in the USA are subject to Federal law when applicable.
Background: I served with a kiowa and another tribal member in my combat engineer company when I was enlisted in 1975.
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LTC Stephen F.
LTC Stephen F.
9 y
Capt Gregory Prickett - Thank you for providing a well thought through summary.
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PO1 Ted Woitazek
PO1 Ted Woitazek
5 y
Many Syrians don't wish to be re-settled. The answer is for the American people to hold G.W. Bush and Obama as well as Congress accountable for ILLEGALLY interfering in the affairs of a sovereign nation.
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Sgt Kelli Mays
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg Govenor Abbott was pretty clear when he addressed the Texas People today. He is not will to accept the Syrians because there is not TRUE way of vetting these folks. These Folks come from a country which will not cooperate with the United States....vetting someone is getting their back ground....where they worked...how long they were there....are they on any watch lists? What about their family? Do they have family members who are terrorists or on any watch lists? Have they or have any of their family members been involved in any crime or been locked up? The list goes on to what entails the questions for the vetting process....it's basically a back ground check...and with a country like Syria...where their leader hates the US....most of the government is in shambles....there is probably no or very little documentation available to prove who is who or what they've done or where they came from etc....
With these refugee's coming from a country where ISIS has practically taken over and definitely set up shop.....ABBOTT and other concerned Governors and states do not want to put their citizens in any jeopardy or harms way...
In Texas we have enough to deal with.....we have MILLIONS of ILLEGAL ALIENS and thousands of illegals trying to cross the border on a DAILY basis....we don't need to have to try and deal with Refugee's from a country that has heavy involvement with ISIS and no way of truly vetting these folks.
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
yep, I know people that work the border. Its a mess. We don't need other countries messes on top of it.
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Sgt Kelli Mays
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Do you know the reasons behind Texas, and other states refusing Syrian Refugees?
Capt Seid Waddell
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The risk of terrorists among them is too high, and there is no way to vet them, coming from failed states.
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
Capt Seid Waddell - They are indeed. I found this article with a pretty thorough explanation of where refugees are coming from and why. The flood of people coming out of the middle east and North Africa sthttp://http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/refugee-crisis-where-are-all-these-people-coming-from-and-why-10490425.htmlaggers.
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Capt Seid Waddell
Capt Seid Waddell
9 y
PO3 Sherry Thornburg, good link, thanks!
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SP5 Mark Kuzinski
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Fd05fa8b
Let's put it this way:
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Capt Walter Miller
Capt Walter Miller
9 y
Ya'll are pathetic.

Walt
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SP5 Michael Rathbun
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Well, I see that Ted Cruz (with others) wants to admit only Christian Syrian refugees. Too bad for the other non-Muslims.

I wonder what sort of test they want to apply... Perhaps being able to recite the Nicene Creed in Greek? A letter of attestation from your (probably now deceased) parish priest? The Little Litany in Arabic? Just a personal declaration?

Duuuuuudes: if these killers want to enter the country to massacre our populace, would they lie about their religious beliefs?

Naaah, not even a tiny chance.

Disclaimer: I was choir director in a Syrian Antiochian Orthodox Christian parish for a few years. I have a reasonably good idea what this is all about.
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SP5 Michael Rathbun
SP5 Michael Rathbun
9 y
My main point is: even if you want to discriminate based upon personal religious beliefs, you have absolutely NO way of establishing beyond doubt that you can reliably detect Christians and reject non-Christians.

In fact, depending upon how you frame your criteria, you might conclude that there are only about 20,000 Christians in the entire state of Texas, no matter what their place of birth.
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
SP5 Michael Rathbun - In this case it isn't discrimination (hate bias) its discrimination (who is more in danger). My point still is that it is going to be very hard to tell who is who.
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SP5 Michael Rathbun
SP5 Michael Rathbun
9 y
Yes, my point exactly -- you can't put a religious test in front of any process of accepting refugees, since there is no way to render it accurate, nor would it be reasonable even if it were possible.

As another poster has put it, we can either surrender to the DAESH agenda, as over half of our Republican governors have done, or we can be the land of the free and the home of the brave. (Thinking of Wisconsin... Does this mean the Guv is a "Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkey"?)

Otherwise, we need to chisel most of the Emma Lazarus poem off of the base of the Statue that the French gave us a while back, leaving only

"I douse my lamp and slam the Golden Door".

But that's just my opinion. I didn't give in to terrorists in Viet-Nam, nor will I do it now for DAESH.

YMMV.
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MSgt Daniel Attilio
MSgt Daniel Attilio
9 y
Makes one wonder if Ted Cruz is familiar with the 1st Amendment. You know the first one. The one at the top of the list. The one before the right to bear arms. Freedom of religion, ...make no law respecting an establishment of religion...
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Cpl Shane Cunningham
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A refugee family of 4 will cost tax payers over $287,000. Already we have refugees saying what has been provided is not good enough. Some states are stupid I guess.
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
I'll vote you up, but please reference your facts there. I'd like to research that.
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Cpl Shane Cunningham
Cpl Shane Cunningham
9 y
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
Cpl Shane Cunningham - Thank you. Interesting article. I hadn't seen estimates for resettlement before.
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SGT Damaso V Santana
SGT Damaso V Santana
>1 y
Cpl Shane Cunningham - What I find really hard to believe is that there is not a single woman or child, never mind a family in this picture. They are all young and male.
Does that makes us a country run by Idiots?
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TSgt John Temblador, PI, CIPA
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Z DEVELOPING: Police in Honduras caught five Syrians who were trying to make their way to the United States with stolen and doctored passports, according to reports. http://fxn.ws/1S4MIvC
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
I just read that myself.
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PO3 Steven Sherrill
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SSgt Alex Robinson the attacks in Paris are still being investigated. The information is flowing in. The problem is that it is being regurgitated by news sources before it is vetted or analyzed. I heard yesterday that the stadium bomber had a ticket for the game, and detonated outside of the stadium because he was caught by stadium security. No other details, no source was given. This morning they were saying that a passport was found that had been used by a refugee to gain entry into Europe. Again no source was provided. They couldn't even say that they were certain that it was authentic. They just had the information so they got it on the air as soon as possible.

I am afraid that if individual states try to ban refugees, then the federal government is going to step in and force the issue. First off, there is federal land in every state that the governor would have no say over how it is used. Second, if we start setting up internment camps for refugees, then we are going to foster further resentment. The last thing that the world needs is for a moderate Muslim, or even a non Muslim to become a radicalized Muslim because of their treatment while trying to escape from the horror that is Syria.

The flip side of that is that any refugee coming into the United States needs to be THOROUGHLY vetted. If they cannot be vetted, then they should not be brought into this country at all. The real difficulty is finding a balance between humanity and security. As much of an asshole as this may make me sound, these are not U.S. Citizens. That means that while a balance needs to be found, if there is doubt, that person needs to be denied entry.

The last point I will make is that we have a homeless EPIDEMIC in the United States. Before refugee one is processed and allowed to enter into this great nation, we should make sure that we have our own house in order first (especially homeless veterans). If there is one United States citizen living on the streets, or dealing with hunger issues, then we are not in a position to be taking in refugees. That may sound cruel, but again how can we care for refugees from another country when we cannot keep those who have served this nation off the streets? The answer is we cannot.
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SSgt Alex Robinson
SSgt Alex Robinson
9 y
I happen to agree with you. Thank you for your post.
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TSgt John Temblador, PI, CIPA
TSgt John Temblador, PI, CIPA
9 y
https://www.facebook.com/AmericansAgainstMuslimsakeOver/videos/ [login to see] 38713/
MUST WATCH.. EUROPE HAS FALLEN.. AMERICA NEXT...
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
I agree with you as well. We are in a world of debt, with homelessness and a massive amount of people out of work. How do we help them when we are already overloaded with illegal immigrants from a leaky border.
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
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No they do not. The Constitution is very clear that the Congress sets immigration policy and that the executive branch enforces it. This is a federal issue.
Having said that, there is a booming industry right now for Syrian identification documents. Why? Because a fair percentage of these "refugees" are not Syrian. Another percentage want a different identity than the one they really are.
Undoubtedly, there are embedded bad guys in this group of people. There are many more in this group vulnerable to radicalization. Why we want to let hordes of these people into the United States without any kind of screening process is beyond me. This is negligent in the extreme.

The USA has a proud and long tradition of welcoming those who yearn to breathe free air, work hard, and make a better life for themselves. But from where I sit, the current announced policy is risky without any positive benefits for our nation's citizens.
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
1SG (Join to see)
9 y
I'm with you, Capt Gregory Prickett, addressed the same thing myself just before I got your most recent comment.
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
You may have a point, but can and should the Feds force states into massive debt in order to take in more people than their social services can afford? Only the Feds can print money out of thin air. When there is no more ability to take in more money, there is no more money for anyone, not just recent refugees. There have been states in this very position in the past that have told new applicants to move to over states. I found these examples of service closures already happening or about to.
http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/content/social-services-case-loads-rise-while-funding-starts-run-dry
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/10/20/penn-o20.html
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
PO3 Sherry Thornburg
9 y
Capt Gregory Prickett - No I was specifically addressing state funded programs. feds start them but then defund expecting states to continue
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SGT Damaso V Santana
SGT Damaso V Santana
>1 y
Capt Gregory Prickett - Federally funded from taxes paid by Americans. As a Veteran I want any help to go to our brother Veterans who are homeless and committing suicide, not to people who cannot be properly vetted and who ultimately refuse to assimilate.
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