The Republican presidential field split on allowing immigration from nations infected with the Islamic State as contenders Ted Cruz and Rand Paul blasted fellow GOP contender Marco Rubio’s non-answer to President Obama’s lame oval office speech.
Cruz tweeted that if elected president, “I will shut down the broken immigration system that is letting jihadists into our country.” Cruz elaborated in a statement:
The President should place an immediate moratorium on refugees from countries with a significant al Qaeda or ISIS presence, such as Syria. I’ve introduced legislation to make this happen; it is not a desired step, but a necessary step for the security of the United States.
Similarly, Rand Paul tweeted, “While @POTUS paid lip service to this fight, he plans to keep failed rules in place & allow tens of thousands of refugees to enter the US.”
“Immigration visas & refugees from countries with active terror networks must be halted while we determine how to better secure our borders,” Paul in a separate tweet. “His administration is focused on gun laws that won’t stop terrorists while pushing policies that will let more of them in the country,” Paul wrote.
Cruz and Paul’s position differed radically from Marco Rubio who delivered a response to Obama’s speech.
By contrast, in his prime-time Fox News response, Rubio did not call for Muslim immigration curbs of any kind, although he did admit ISIS is trying to infiltrate the refugee program. In fact, Rubio has previously said he’d “hate to use” Congress’ power of the purse to block funding for Obama’s refugee program.
Rand Paul has been delivering a series of fresh criticism of Rubio’s record on immigration:
The Hill newspaper summarized Paul’s fresh criticism of Rubio:
The first job of the President should be to secure our borders and fix broken refugee and visa systems to stop terrorists,” Paul, a GOP presidential candidate, said during a string of tweets aimed at the Florida Republican, also a 2016 candidate. “Yesterday I introduced my SECURE bill as an amendment in the Senate, to protect our borders and resources. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) voted no.”… “For years on this important national security test, I have led, and Marco Rubio has failed,” he said in a separate tweet, adding, “As I led, Marco Rubio has gone the other way, preferring open borders, broken systems and siding with [Democratic Sens.] Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Chuck Schumer.
