, Columnist
Republican Campaign Against Refugees Is Just Beginning
One measure in Congress would curb immigration from Syria. Another would end it.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, center.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesThe House passed a bill Thursday to severely restrict the admission of refugees from Syria and Iraq. President Barack Obama has promised to veto it. Behind the scenes, Republicans are preparing several bills that are more drastic, aiming to close American borders to asylum seekers. These measures set up a much longer political battle.
The most severe of the Republican proposals would suspend all U.S. government support for resettling refugees in the U.S. and would aim to guard against certain refugees entering the U.S. through the southern border who are suspected of ties to terrorism, designating them “special interest aliens.”