[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 16, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H5830-H5831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           REFUGEE ADMISSIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Brooks) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROOKS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, the President is Commander in 
Chief. His highest constitutional duty is protecting American lives.
  As of 2016, so-called refugee admissions from the Middle East, Near 
East, South Asia, and Africa accounted for 80 percent of so-called 
refugee admissions into America.
  I say ``so-called refugees'' because the United Nations states no 
country is obligated by international law to take refugees from a 
country in which they are already protected.
  The result of America's flawed policy? America is the world's top 
refugee resettlement country on the planet.
  In a 2015 Breitbart interview, I opposed these dangerous refugee 
policies and stated: ``Barack Obama wants to endanger Americans by 
importing people, some of whom undoubtedly will resort to terrorism and 
killing Americans at some point in the future.''
  Consistent with my view that importing unvetted people from 
terrorist-laden countries threatens American lives, the House, in 2015, 
passed a law requiring a full FBI background investigation for alleged 
Iraq or Syria refugees. The bill died in the Senate while under an 
Obama veto threat.
  In 2017, a newly elected President Trump stated: ``In order to 
protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to 
this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding 
principles. The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who 
do not support the Constitution or those who would place violent 
ideologies over American law.''

                              {time}  1015

  ``In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in 
acts of bigotry or hatred, including `honor' killings, other forms of 
violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice 
religions different from their own.''
  As expected, socialist Democrats and their fake news media allies 
reacted by calling President Trump names rather than supporting 
policies that save American lives.
  For example, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: ``This week, I joined 
my colleagues on the steps of the Supreme Court to fight the 
President's reprehensible order. . . . The values illustrated were in 
stark contrast with the President's unconstitutional, immoral, and 
dangerous ban on refugees and citizens of Muslim countries coming into 
the United States.''
  Predictably, a radical, leftist judge restrained President Trump from 
protecting American lives. Fortunately, a later President Trump refugee 
and travel policy was approved by the Supreme Court as ``squarely 
within the scope of Presidential authority.''
  As would be expected, this decision was ridiculed with hysterical 
headlines from the left. NBC News stated, ``The Supreme Court's travel 
ban decision adds to its legacy of legitimizing racism.''
  Protecting Americans from terrorism is ``reprehensible,'' 
``immoral,'' ``racism''? This is all ignorant and baseless socialist 
Democrat and fake news media slander intended to stifle rational 
debate.
  But truth eventually wins out. Recently, an unvetted so-called Syrian

[[Page H5831]]

refugee who entered America 3 years ago was charged with terrorism. 
According to an affidavit filed in Pittsburgh Federal court, the FBI 
investigation of Mustafa Mousab Alowemer ``revealed that Alowemer 
plotted to bomb a church located on the north side of Pittsburgh . . . 
using a weapon of mass destruction, i.e., an explosive device.''
  According to Alowemer, his motivation to detonate a device at the 
church was to ``support the cause of ISIS and to inspire other ISIS 
supporters in the United States to join together and commit similar 
acts in the name of ISIS.''
  Fortunately, the FBI stopped Alowemer from blowing up a church and 
slaughtering innocent American Christians. Unfortunately, American 
lives are still at risk from terrorists masquerading as refugees.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask: How many dead Americans does it take to cause 
open-border advocates to secure our borders and protect American lives?
  Unfortunately, no one knows because socialist Democrats have shown 
there is no amount of American blood on their hands that will cause 
them to protect American lives by securing America's borders.

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