Rand Paul Wants To Pause Immigration From the Middle East

FILE - In this May 16, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul speaks in Des Moines, Iowa. Paul vowed on Monday to “everything possible” to block renewal of the terrorism-era Patriot Ac... FILE - In this May 16, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul speaks in Des Moines, Iowa. Paul vowed on Monday to “everything possible” to block renewal of the terrorism-era Patriot Act, but the Republican presidential hopeful conceded it may not be enough. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) MORE LESS
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Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has an idea to keep the country safer: stop admitting any immigrant from the Middle East.

“We have to have a pause on immigration from the Middle East till we can get a handle on ‘are we admitting people who want to attack and kill us?'” Paul said on CNN Monday.

“We have 150,000 students here from the Middle East. Do we know where they all are? Do we know they are in school? Do we know that they haven’t overstayed their visas?” Paul said.

As Paul struggles to break through in a crowed Republican primary field, the senator’s proposal is going beyond simply barring Syrian refugees from coming to the U.S.

Paul introduced legislation last month that required the Department of Homeland Security to “suspend issuance of visas to nationals of countries with a high risk of terrorism” until new security checks could be met. Paul’s bill called on all current visa holders from some Middle Eastern countries to be screened and fingerprinted to assure they were not engaging in terrorist activity. Then, before DHS admitted more individuals, Paul’s bill called on DHS to complete an entry and exit system that ensured no immigrant overstayed their visa.

“Before we make the haystack bigger, before we admit millions of new people into this country, I think we have to push pause and have a moratorium on new immigration from the Middle East,” Paul said.

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Notable Replies

  1. Once again asshole, most people that come to the US that would do this country harm come by way of most other countries, not located in what is commonly referred to as the Middle East. Nativist Dumbshit.

    Btw, Israel is located in the Middle East. Are you going to make an exception for them so as not to piss off your Evangelical base? Something tells me he hasn’t thought this whole thing through very well.

  2. Avatar for mantan mantan says:

    Now is this the Jr. Senator’s idea or is he copying form another’s homework?

  3. “We have to have a pause”, “we have to push pause” and “Before we make the haystack bigger” don’t add up to a coherent argument.

  4. can we hit the pause button on ignorant statements by Senators from Kentucky in general?

  5. “As Paul struggles to break through in a crowed Republican primary field,”

    You misspelled “crude”.

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