How do American politicians explain their reluctance to accept refugees

By the time Washington presented its plan for Syrian refugees, the migration crisis in Europe had already been going on for many months: hundreds of thousands of refugees were rushing to EU countries from Syria.

Since the beginning of the civil war, about four million people have left Syria. Most settled or are preparing to settle in the EU countries. The United States since 2011 has only a half thousand people - or 0,03% of the total number of refugees. By September, there was a consensus in the United States that America should help Europe cope with the migration crisis.

The debate on the Syrian issue flared up with a new force after the terrorist attacks in Paris. The investigation suggests that one of the terrorists came to France from Syria, along with the refugees. 16 September State Department confirmedthat ten thousand Syrians intend to accept in 2016, but now the federal government’s plan has been confronted with tough opposition from state governments.

Of the US 50 states, only ten said they support a refugee housing program. Nine more have not yet decided. The remaining 31 opposed: 30 of them are headed by Republican governors.

Over the past three days, representatives of the Republican Party have made many surprising statements regarding the migration problem. For example, a member of the House of Representatives from the State of Wyoming, Cynthia Lummis saidthat it would be more humane to keep the Syrians at home. Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee believes that the Syrians in the US will be bad because of the cold climate. The fact that the Syrians in America will freeze, said another Republican candidate - Donald Trump. He is also confident that Barack Obama intends to resettle refugees only in republican states - in spite of the Republican governors.

Another Republican candidate, Ben Carson, released pre-election videowhere it is stated that Obama has already signed a decree on the resettlement of 100 thousands of Syrians across the US “In response, the Congress should say: just try, and we will stop funding your breakfast,” the video says.

Many American publications have tried to counter the anti-Syrian campaign. For example, BuzzFeed released a material called “18 reasons why no country should accept refugees". The article tells about famous political immigrants and their descendants - from Albert Einstein to Steve Jobs.

The authors of The Washington Post remembered the surveypublished in Fortune magazine in 1938 year. In response to a question about accepting political refugees from Germany and Austria (in most cases it was about Jews), less than five percent of Americans said they would support the necessary change in legislation. 67,4% said then that "it is better to try not to let them."