Jones Calls For Suspension and Review Of Foreign Refugee Program | Eastern NC Now

    Press Release:

Federal data suggests that from 2008 to 2013, 91.4 percent of refugees admitted from the Middle East are on food stamps, and 68.3 percent receive cash welfare assistance.

    WASHINGTON, D.C. - Last week, Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) cosponsored H.R. 3314, The Resettlement Accountability National Security Act of 2015, which would suspend the federal government's refugee resettlement program until the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provides a thorough assessment of the costs of the program on federal, state, and local governments. Data from the federal agency which administers the program suggests that from 2008 to 2013, 91.4 percent of refugees admitted from the Middle East are on food stamps, and 68.3 percent receive cash welfare assistance. Nevertheless, last week the Obama administration announced that it would allow at least 10,000 refugees from Syria into America in 2016. H.R. 3314 would suspend the president's action and only allow for the program to be resumed if Congress voted to do so.

    "We need to determine how much this program is costing taxpayers, and we need to make sure the people we are letting in aren't radical Islamic terrorists. Until then, the program ought to be suspended," said Congressman Jones. "We are over 18 trillion dollars in debt. We don't even have money to fix roads and schools for Americans who pay taxes and already live here. Instead of taking in thousands of immigrants and refugees from countries that breed radical Islamic terrorists, we should be focusing our efforts on urging stable Middle Eastern countries to allow refugees to resettle closer to their homeland."

    According to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), between 2008 and 2013 the United States admitted 115,617 refugees from the Middle East. Another 308,805 people from the Middle East were given green cards during that time, meaning a total of 424,422 immigrants from the Middle East settled in the United States in five years - nearly half a million. Overall, according to the Migration Policy Institute, the U.S. has taken in "about 20 percent of the world's international migrants, even as it represents less than 5 percent of the global population."

    For additional information, please contact Sarah Howard in Congressman Jones' office at (202) 225-3415 or sarah.howard@mail.house.gov.