Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said the U.S. must conduct thorough background checks on all Syrian refugees before letting them in to the country.
In an interview with NPR on Saturday, the retired neurosurgeon warned that terrorists could be hiding among the thousands of refugees seeking entrance to the U.S.
He added that until such mass screenings can take place, no refugees should be allowed into the country.
“We have to recognize that this is a splendid opportunity for global jihadists to infiltrate those numbers with members of their own organization,” Mr. Carson said. “So we would have to have in place a very excellent screening mechanism. Until we had such a mechanism in place, we should not bring anybody in.”
His remarks come two days after President Obama pledged to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year.
The European Union has been grappling with how to deal with the refugee crisis as hundreds of thousands of displaced people continue to stream out of conflict-ridden nations like Syria. Some countries, like Hungary, have refused to take on any refugees.
Germany has estimated it will accept roughly 800,000 refugees this year, nearly four times as many as it did last year.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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