Hillary, Sanders, O’Malley: After Paris Attack U.S. Should Still Take Refugees

Saturday on CBS’s Democratic presidential debate, all three candidates agreed that American should still take Syrian refugees even after reports that at least one man linked to the Paris attacks registered as refugee in Greece.

Sanders said, “In terms of refugees, I believe the United States has the moral responsibility with Europe, with Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia, to make sure that when people leave countries like Afghanistan and Syria with nothing more than the clothing on their back, that of course, we reach out. Now, what the magic number is I don’t know, because we don’t know the extent of the problem. But I certainly think that the United States should take its full responsibility in helping those people.”

O’Malley said, “I was the first person on this stage to say that we should accept the 65,000 Syrian refugees that were fleeing the sort of murder of ISIS, and I believe that that needs to be done with proper screening. But accommodating 65,000 refugees in our country today, people of 320 million, is akin to making room for 6.5 more people in a baseball stadium with 32,000. There are other ways to lead and to be a moral leader in this world, rather than at the opposite end of a drone strike.

Clinton said, “I also said that we should take increased numbers of refugees. The administration originally said 10. I said we should go to 65, but only if we have as careful a screening and vetting process as we can imagine, whatever resources it takes. I do not want us to in any way inadvertently allow people who wish us harm to come into our country.”