Retired neurosurgeon and 2016 GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson said bringing in Syrian refugees to the United States doesn’t solve the problem and that the refugees he spoke to on a recent trip to Jordan said they want to go back to their home country.
“I asked them specifically: ’What would you like to happen?’ Two questions: ’What would you like to happen and what can the United States do?’ And the answers I got were pretty consistent. They would like to go back home to Syria, No. 1, and what can nations like the United States do? They can support the efforts of places like Jordan and other places that might offer them a safe place to inhabit until such time as they can return home,” Mr. Carson said Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” program.
“The issue is if we bring in tens of thousands of refugees into this country, have we solved the problem?” he said. “The answer to that is no. Why do things that just make some people feel good and say that we’ve done something?”
Mr. Carson recently traveled to Jordan and spoke to some of the refugees in person.
“What I have said is that bringing them into this country does not solve the problem, and it exposes us to danger,” he said. “ISIS has already said that if we bring tens of thousands of people here, they will infiltrate them with their people.”
“And we already have good solutions. The Jordanians are very generous people,” he said. “They have camps, they have places that work very well. … Refugees that I talked to in more than one camp were very grateful for what the Jordanians have done, but people are not giving enough money to support those efforts.”
“So why don’t we take advantage of the things that are already in place?” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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