Obama Visits Refugees in Malaysia as U.S. Debates Syria Migrants
- They are like our kids and deserve our support, Obama says
- Visit follows call by U.S. lawmakers to review refugee program
US President Barack Obama tours the Dignity for Children Foundation with children between the ages of seven and nine in Kuala Lumpur.
Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Three days after saying Republicans were “scared of widows and orphans” seeking refuge in the U.S., President Barack Obama visited a refugee center in Malaysia to drive home his call for more compassion in response to a global migrant crisis.
“They’re just like our kids and they deserve support,” Obama said Saturday after touring the Dignity for Children Foundation in Kuala Lumpur. “The notion that somehow we would be fearful of them, that our politics would somehow leave them to turn our sights away from their plight, is not representative of the best of who we are.”