Zinke Presses House Leadership for Vote to Block POTUS Plan to Bring Thousands of Syrian Refugees to the U.S.

Statement

Today, Montana Congressman and former Commander of Joint Special Forces in Iraq, U.S. Navy SEAL Commander (ret.) Ryan Zinke called on House Leadership to bring two pieces of legislation to the floor in order to block President Obama's plan to bring tens of thousands of unscreened Syrian refugees to the United States.

Two months ago, Rep. Zinke warned of the inherent national security risks the refugee crisis poses to Western nations. In an effort to prevent terrorists from coming to the United States with the refugee population. Today, Rep. Zinke is introducing legislation with Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) titled the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act. The American SAFE Act bolsters the refugee screening process to include the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. Earlier this year Rep. Zinke helped introduce H.R. 3314, the Refugee Resettlement Accountability National Security Act, which prohibits the admission of refugees into the United States until Congress passes a joint resolution giving the Department of Homeland Security authority to resume admitting refugees. Rep. Zinke is pressing House Leadership for a vote on both pieces of legislation. In addition, he is joining his colleagues in urging President Obama to halt all refugee programs from Syria and Iraq until security concerns are met.

The following statement is from Rep. Zinke:

"My heart is heavy for the people of Paris, Beirut and other nations affected by ISIS terrorists. I do not view these attacks as merely a "setback.' Last year, President Obama called ISIS the "JV team,' and he blindly claimed ISIS is "contained' just hours before the Paris attacks, but he could not have been more gravely wrong. The United States should have stepped up and destroyed ISIS at its origins, rather than wait until ISIS grew their capabilities and influence. Now, we face not only ISIS in Syria and Iraq, but also across the globe, and potentially here at home.

"In light of the information that the terrorist attack on Paris was carried out in part by an ISIS terrorist embedded in the refugee population, I am calling on Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader McCarthy to bring legislation to the floor this week to stop the President's dangerous plan to bring 180,000 refugees to the United States.

"In the case of the Syrian refugees, most of them are male. Most of them are of military age, and yes, it is a significant security issue in that a background check is only as good as the authorities have information on them. But when you have a background check and you don't know their background, you don't know what they've done, it is enormously dangerous in the interest of our national security to accept potential terrorists. ISIS said, and now they have proven, they will use this chaos to infiltrate ISIS members in the refugee population."

Rep. Ryan Zinke is a retired Navy SEAL Commander. His 23-year career included assignments with SEAL Teams One and Six, leading BUD/S training, and he served as the Acting and Deputy Commander of Joint Special Operations in Iraq where he led 3,500 special operations personnel and led hundreds of missions. Commander Zinke is credited with 72 confirmed captures or kills of enemy insurgents.

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