Donald Trump is using the detainment of eight Syrian refugees on the U.S. border to defend his calls for a “big and beautiful wall” at the border, but the Syrians he is talking about weren’t sneaking into the county.
The two Syrian families actually surrendered themselves at a U.S. border checkpoint in Laredo.
Eight Syrians were just caught on the southern border trying to get into the U.S. ISIS maybe? I told you so. WE NEED A BIG & BEAUTIFUL WALL!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2015
A Department of Homeland Security spokesman Thursday told Talking Points Memo, “DHS confirms that on Tuesday, members of two Syrian families, two men, two women and four children, presented themselves at a port of entry in Laredo.”
The spokesman said that the individuals were “taken into custody by CBP and turned over to ICE for further processing. The two adult women and four children were transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. The two men from these families are being held at the South Texas Detention Center in Pearsall Texas.”
In light of the terrorist attacks in Paris, GOP 2016 presidential candidates have called on doing everything from tightening security measures to all-out banning Syrian Muslims from gaining asylum in the U.S.
Current Texas Gov. Greg Abbott joined more than two dozen governors in his call to block Syrian refugees from being placed in his state and on Wednesday, he also tweeted out a story about the Syrians in Laredo from Breitbart.com.
THIS is why Texas is vigilant about Syrian refugees–> REPORT: 8 Syrians Caught at Texas Border in Laredo. #tcot https://t.co/trfqhGcNAu
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 19, 2015
The most recent hysteria over Islamic State terrorists using the country’s southern border to infiltrate the U.S. is nothing new. As thousands of unaccompanied minors spilled across the U.S.-Texas border during the spring and summer of 2014, conservative Rep. Louie Gohmert told Fox News that he had heard from the FBI director that “there were people from terrorist countries that were assuming Hispanic names and learning a few words of Spanish, and coming in.”
That same year, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry told an audience that there was a “very real possibility” that ISIL terrorists were using the southern route to sneak into the U.S.
At the time, U.S. officials flatly denied claims that there was any evidence terrorists were using that route.
