Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings is letting his stance on the Syrian refugee situation be known, arguing that any threat a refugee might pose is dwarfed by those who are already in the U.S.
Rawlings has already welcomed refugees despite Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asking to keep them out of the state, reported the Washington Times. Rawlings said that while both he and Abbott agree about the importance of state safety, they disagree about the risks refugees pose.
"ISIS wants us to demonize these Syrian refugees, want us to alienate these children," Rawlings said. "We have got to build a coalition of Middle Eastern states and we need to reach out. They're Muslims and we have got to use the words carefully to show them that we care about them. ISIS is no more Islamic than the Nazi senior staff was Christian. And so we have got to differentiate between the two. Fight the fight that we need to do."
Instead of targeting "children and refugees," we need to center our aggression and our plans on "evil human beings that are doing terrible things," Rawlings told MSNBC.
"I was out in the streets last night in Dallas, looking at a great part of town that has had some recent robberies. Those are the things that mayors are concerned about," he said. "This is a big issue and we as a nation must step up and make sure we're secure, but we must not do things that change the soul of who we are as well."
Going by his criteria, many states have forgotten the "soul" of what makes them American. So far, 31 states (30 of which have Republican governors) have either voiced objections to refugees entering the states or have taken steps to block their arrival.
Only 1,500 Syrian refugees have been accepted into the United States since 2011, but the Obama administration announced in September that 10,000 Syrians will be allowed entry next year.
