Cruz: US shouldn’t let in refugees after Paris attacks

by Bradford Richardson - 11/14/15 11:00 AM ET

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says the U.S. should not let Syrian refugees into the country after a series of terror attacks in Paris on Friday that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility for.

“We need to immediately declare a halt to any plans to bring refugees that may have been infiltrated by ISIS to the United States,” Cruz said in a statement Friday. “We need to redouble our efforts to prevent ISIS agents from penetrating our nation by other means.”

{mosads}President Obama has directed his administration to take 10,000 displaced Syrian refugees over the next year.

Cruz said the attacks on Paris that left at least 107 dead and the recent Russian plane crash that claimed the lives of 224 people, both of which ISIS has taken responsibility for, represent an “unmistakable escalation of ISIS’ ambitions and the scale of their terrorist attacks outside Syria and Iraq.

“Even as chaos rages in Paris, we need to take immediate, commonsense steps to preserve our own safety,” he said.

Cruz also said taking defensive measures will not be enough to prevent a future attack, calling for increased action against the terrorist group.

He said ISIS will not be “appeased by outreach or declarations of tolerance,” nor “deterred by targeted airstrikes with zero tolerance for civilian casualties, when the terrorists have such utter disregard for innocent life.”

“We must make it crystal clear that affiliation with ISIS and related terrorist groups brings with it the undying enmity of America – that it is, in effect, signing your own death warrant.”

Obama said Friday the U.S. will do “whatever it takes” to bring the perpetrators of the Paris attacks to justice.

Tags France Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Syria Ted Cruz