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Walker: ‘We shouldn’t be taking more’ Syrian refugees

by Mark Hensch - 09/09/15 7:26 PM ET

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday said he opposes the U.S. opening its borders to take in more refugees from Syria.

“No, we shouldn’t be taking on any more Syrian refugees right now,” he said at the Governor’s Small Business Summit in Eau Claire, Wis., according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

“In the last year, America has received almost 70,000 refugees, of which nearly 2,000 are from Syria,” the 2016 GOP presidential candidate said. “We’ve spent something like $4 billion in humanitarian relief in terms of helping the situation in Syria.

{mosads}“So, we’re doing more than any country in the world and it’s got to be clear that the problem that has to be addressed is not the refugee issue that’s a symptom, the real problem is this administration fails to deal with taking on ISIS,” added Walker.

His remarks come two days after he refused comment on the refugee crisis currently challenging Europe.

“I’m not president today and I can’t be president today,” he told ABC News on Monday when asked whether a potential Walker administration would address the issue.

“Everybody wants to talk about hypotheticals — there is no such thing as a hypothetical.”

Europe is currently facing a deluge of refugees from northern Africa and the Middle East displaced from violence in those regions.

Continental Europe is now struggling with the strain on its resources and space from hundreds of thousands of displaced citizens.

Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday said he supports increasing the cap on the number of refugees America resettles to help manage the issue.

Kerry proposed lifting the ceiling to more than 70,000 refugees during remarks that afternoon.

“We are committed to increasing the number of refugees that we take and we are looking hard at the number we specifically can manage,” he told reporters.

Civilians are fleeing bloodshed from nations like Libya and Syria in search of greater safety elsewhere.

Syria is particularly hard hit by an ongoing civil war between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces. The rise of ISIS further complicates the problems.

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