Kind Backs House Bill For Extra Refugee Screening

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind was the only Wisconsin Democrat in the House of Representatives to join Republicans in voting for new legislation that expands screening for Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

The House passed the American SAFE Act Thursday, which requires the FBI to conduct a background check on Syrians and Iraqis applying for refugee status, in addition to the current screening process.

Kind said the added security measures for Syrians and Iraqis are a practical way to ensure refugees are not a threat to national security in the wake of several attacks by the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS.

“Syria is different, because that is where ISIS is and we’ve seen their reach right now — with Paris, with the airliner in Egypt, the attacks in Lebanon,” he said. “Doing these double-checks right now is not an unreasonable request for us to be making.”

Kind said he recognizes the bill was introduced and passed quickly in the House, but said the recent terrorist attacks put pressure on lawmakers to increase American security.

He also said the legislation has been misrepresented as something that prevents the United States from accepting Syrian and Iraqi refugees, which he said may be the reason many House Democrats and the White House are opposed to it.

“I think the bottom line is people just need to read the bill,” Kind said. “It’s not how it’s being characterized out there and there’s a lot of fear mongering going on. There’s a lot of misrepresentation about what this does or doesn’t do and quite frankly, it’s relatively benign.”

Kind said he does not agree with Gov. Scott Walker’s call for Wisconsin to stop accepting Syrian refugees.

“That’s not the Wisconsin way. That doesn’t reflect our values as citizens here or quite frankly in the country,” he said.