Former NYPD commissioner: US has ‘obligation’ to refugees

The former New York City Police Department (NYPD) commissioner says the U.S. has an “obligation” to take refugees fleeing war-torn Syria.

{mosads}Ray Kelly said the U.S. should try to screen refugees before taking them, however.

“I think we have that obligation,” Kelly told John Catsimatidis during an interview on “The Cats Roundtable” on AM 970 New York on Sunday.

“This is the type of tough decision that executives, that presidents have to make. I think we do everything we can do to do background investigations on these people, but there’s clearly a humanitarian need for action.

“You see countries in Europe that are responding, I think the U.S. has an obligation to respond as well,” he added.

President Obama has directed his administration to take 10,000 Syrian refugees next year.

House Democrats called for the U.S. to let in at least 10-times that number.

Kelly also reflected on the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“We should have seen the first World Trade Center attack as a wake-up call, as a nation and as a city,” he said. “We didn’t do that, and of course we live to pay the price on Sept. 11, 2001.”

Kelly said there were 16 attempted terrorist attacks aimed at the city during his tenure as commissioner.

“It shows that they want to come here, and I think they’re going to continue to want to come here, because New York is seen throughout the world as the capital city, a shining city on a hill, this is where they want to make a statement,” Kelly said. “Terrorism is theater … New York is still the world’s biggest stage, and we have to be vigilant, we have to be on guard.”