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Ryan: Republican lawmakers want to pause Syria refugee program in light of Paris attacks
WASHINGTON - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are calling for a pause in the Syria refugee program and working on a plan for how the United States handles the immigrants fleeing Syrian violence in light of the recent attacks in Paris, Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday.
'This is a moment where it is better to be safe than sorry. So we think the prudent, the responsible thing is to take a pause in this particular aspect of this refugee program in order to verify that terrorists are not trying to infiltrate the refugee population,” he said at a news conference.
He also said that last Friday's attacks in Paris were 'an act of war.”
A Red Cross volunteer carries a Syrian refugee baby off an overcrowded raft at a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos November 16, 2015. Of the 660,000 refugees and migrants who have reached Greece this year, more than half have landed at Lesbos. So far this year, some 3,460 lives have been lost crossing the Mediterranean, 360 in the last four weeks alone with 250 of these in Greek territorial waters, UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told a news briefing in Geneva on November 13. (REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis)
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