Multifaith Alliance Urges Resettlement Reform After Senate Blocks “nasty” Anti-Syrian Refugee Bill
A proposed bill that would have crippled the U.S. resettlement program for Syrian refugees did not muster enough support in the U.S. Senate to move to consideration. The Multifaith Alliance urges political leadership and public action to protect persecuted Syrian refugees seeking safety and freedom in the United States.
“We laud the Senate for refusing to take up this xenophobic measure,” said MFA founder Dr. Georgette Bennett, referring to H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015. “We must work to ensure effective and efficient responses to the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. We need responses that preserve our national security and assist those most desperate. SAFE does neither.”
MFA said the 43 Senators who opposed cloture – which, if invoked, would have allowed the bill to proceed to the Senate floor – effectively stopped one of the nastiest potential overrides of American law, history and values in recent memory.
“Rather than enhancing the safety of our citizens, the bill promotes bigotry over compassion, hysteria over sound policy. The U.S. already has a stringent vetting and security clearance process. By ratcheting up screening procedures for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, the bill could effectively prevent their resettlement in America at all,” Dr. Bennett said.
The Multifaith Alliance, a project of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, is seeking significantly greater efficiency in the refugee resettlement process, without compromising U.S. security.
The Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees (MFA), a project of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, is a coalition of more than 50 faith-based and secular organizations. Our mission is to mobilize global support to alleviate the Syrian humanitarian crisis, heighten awareness of its growing dangers, and advance future stability in the region. MFA conducts crisis-related briefings in the U.S. and abroad, facilitates relationships between complementary partner organizations working to help Syrian war victims, and nurtures transformative people-to-people diplomacy in the region.
MFA activities are a project of Tanenbaum, except funding for humanitarian aid, which is distributed through JDC.
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