Obama Says Idea That Muslim Refugees Should Be Kept Out of America Is ‘Shameful’

Obama Says Idea That Muslim Refugees Should Be Kept Out of America Is ‘Shameful’
U.S President Barack Obama speaks to the media during his closing press conference on day two of the G20 Turkey Leaders Summit on November 16, 2015 in Antalya, Turkey. Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Zachary Stieber
Zachary Stieber
Senior Reporter
|Updated:

U.S. President Barack Obama dismissed the idea that Muslim refugees should be kept out of America following the terror attacks in Paris.

At least one the attackers has been identified as a native Syrian who posed as a refugee as he traveled from Syria to France, leading many to cast a critical eye on the international response to the situation.

About the idea that the United States should only accept Christians fleeing Syria, Obama said it was “shameful.”

“When I hear folks say that, ‘Well, maybe we should just admit the Christians but not the Muslims,’ when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who’s fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that’s shameful,” Obama said. 

Although Obama didn’t name names, he seemed to be referencing Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican presidential candidate whose father fled Cuba decades ago.

“That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,” Obama added at the news conference in Turkey on Nov. 16, reported Reuters.

The remarks came a day after Cruz called for Muslim refugees from Syria to be barred from entering the United States.

Syrian refugees Hussam Al Roustom and his wife Suha in their home in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Nov. 9, 2015. They left Homs, Syria, in 2013 with their two small children. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times)
Syrian refugees Hussam Al Roustom and his wife Suha in their home in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Nov. 9, 2015. They left Homs, Syria, in 2013 with their two small children. Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times
Zachary Stieber
Zachary Stieber
Senior Reporter
Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at [email protected]
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