Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has a plan for dealing with refugees in Syria and Turkey that doesn’t involve a mass migration to Europe or the United States.
In a Fox News report highlighting a terrorism travel warning for Europe issued by the State Department this week, Trump national security advisor Sen. Jeff Sessions, of Alabama, told host Greta Van Susteren “a big part of the problem is this massive flow of illegal immigrants into Europe, mostly from Arab areas where we have too much terrorism.
“President Trump, if he’s elected, will take strong steps on that to ensure that people who come to our country are properly vetted,” Sessions said. “Most of the people in Europe now, well over a million, are young males and in no way have they been vetted. They’re coming in, like we have people coming across the border, with no real way to evaluate their background or danger.”
Van Susteren relayed her experience touring an “utterly horrible” overflowing refugee camp in Iraq and questioned how, now that many are relocating to Europe and America, what can be done to address the situation.
“What we got to do – what the United States should do and Europe should do – is make clear that people will not be allowed in their country illegally, and then I think the world does have a duty to see what can be done to create better and more refugee areas,” Sessions said. “I really believe we can create safe zones in Turkey, in Syria, where people can live safely there, close to their home, so they can be returned as soon as possible.
“It just cannot be the policy of the United States that when there’s a war-torn area everybody is entitled to come here,” he said. “We can do better. We should have already have done better. And the instability in Syria, frankly – which is a big part of this, millions of refugees – was poor policy the Clinton-Obama administration that led to this.”
Sessions’ comments came hours after the State Department renewed its terror travel warning for Europe through August 31, according to the Washington Examiner.
“The large number of tourists visiting Europe in the summer months will present greater targets for terrorists planning attacks in public locations, especially large events,” according to the alert.
Van Susteren specifically cited the European Soccer Championships in France in June, and the Tour de France in July as major concerns. The host asked Sessions whether the Trump plan to create safe zones would require military personnel to secure the areas, and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and National Interest said he’s already submitted a proposal to the Defense Department.
“I have talked to the Defense Department about that and they have not reached a decision on what to do in that regard,” Sessions said. “We could get troops from the region, I think that would be very possible, we wouldn’t have to carry the whole load at all. But I do believe that creating a safe zone is critical. I mean, Europe cannot receive millions and millions more refugees. It’s already causing this danger … crime is up dramatically, protests are up all around.
“It’s very destabilizing to Europe,” he said. “The right thing to do is create safe zones there, make them work, and try to end the war as soon as possible so stability can return and people can return.”
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