During his speech today, Trump once again repeated his debunked lies about Clinton’s plan for admitting Syrian refugees.
DONALD TRUMP’S LIES:
Donald Trump claimed that Hillary Clinton wanted to “bring hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of whom …absolutely and openly support terrorism in our country.”
On Friday, Trump accused Clinton of failing to understand the gravity of the risk posed by Syrian refugees in a speech to a conservative Christian group. ‘Hillary will bring hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of whom have hostile beliefs about people of different faiths and values and some of whom absolutely and openly support terrorism in our country,’ he said. ‘We don’t need that. … We have enough problems right now.’
Donald Trump: Hillary Clinton wants to allow Syrian refugees into the United States “pretty much unvetted.”
TRUMP: ‘Now she (Clinton) wants to allow them to come into our country pretty much unvetted because every law enforcement person that I’ve spoken to and that you watched and that you read is saying it’s very hard, if not impossible, to check out people. There are just no papers. There are no papers. And yet you see this great migration.’ ‘Altogether, under the Clinton plan, you’d be admitting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East with no system to vet them or to prevent the radicalization of their children. ‘Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country — they enslave women and murder gays.’
THE TRUTH:
Hillary Clinton called for accepting 65,000 refugees from Syria contingent on “mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in.”
‘We’re facing the worst refugee crisis since the end of World War II and I think the United States has to do more,’ the former secretary of state said Sunday on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’ ‘I would like to see us move from what is a good start with 10,000 to 65,000 and begin immediately to put into place the mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in.’
Associated Press: “Donald Trump says the United States admits Syrian refugees without checking their backgrounds and that Hillary Clinton wants to allow ‘radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country.’ Neither is so.”
Donald Trump says the United States admits Syrian refugees without checking their backgrounds and that Hillary Clinton wants to allow ‘radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country.’ Neither is so, part of a pattern of exaggeration that strains the credibility of his argument since the Orlando nightclub shooting that the U.S. faces apocalyptic danger from Muslim immigrants. Trump’s rhetoric has been slashing, polarizing, passionate and at times illogical. He confuses immigrants with refugees and overlooks the fact some extremists are U.S. citizens. He speaks as if the U.S. border is a gate wide open. And his numbers are off. It’s a given that hyperbole comes with Trump territory. He’s acknowledged that exaggeration for dramatic effect is part of how he rolls.
Associated Press: Hillary Clinton “has never suggested that she would scale back the refugee processing system as it exists today.”
THE FACTS: That’s not what Clinton has said. The presumptive Democratic nominee says she wants to ‘begin immediately to put into place the mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in, looking to really emphasize some of those who are most vulnerable, a lot of the persecuted religious minorities, including Christians, and some who have been brutalized, like the Yazidi women.’ Clinton proposes that the United States accept as many as 65,000 people from Syria, compared with President Barack Obama’s plans to resettle 10,000 people from that country this year. She has never suggested that she would scale back the refugee processing system as it exists today.
Associated Press: Refugee vetting is “a drawn-out process that includes in-person interviews overseas and involves multiple agencies, led by Homeland Security.”
Late last year, the Obama administration for the first time disclosed details about how refugees are investigated. Officials described a drawn-out process that includes in-person interviews overseas and involves multiple agencies, led by Homeland Security. Refugees must submit to interviews before they can come, and provide biographical details about themselves — their families, friendships, social or political activities, employment, telephone numbers, email accounts and more. They also provide biometric information, including fingerprints. Syrians are subject to additional, classified controls that officials have declined to describe specifically. Refugee processing generally takes 18 months to 24 months. It can be longer for Syrians.