Top-tier Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson flew to the Middle Eastern nation of Jordan late on Thursday to visit Syrian refugees at a United Nations-run camp in the town of Azraq.
"I'm going to be visiting some of the refugee camps and some of the hospitals and talking to some of the people," Carson told Breitbart News Thursday afternoon. "I want to get a really good impression of what's going on over there with these refugees. There's a lot of Syrian refugees. There are not nearly as many as they had planned for. But as you may or may not know, the facilities are not conducive to having any refugees stay there - they're trying to get out of there."
The retired neurosurgeon said that he hopes his trip will help him find a way to solve the crisis and resettle Syrians throughout the Middle East, instead of sending more to Europe or bringing them to the U.S.
Twelve million Syrians have fled their homes and 4 million are living as refugees due to the years-long civil war, which has been largely fueled by the U.S. and its allies attempting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Carson told Breitbart he also wants to "get a better impression of why Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, why are they so resistant to integrating Syrians into their populations? What is it, what's the dynamic between these various groups that makes them not want to help each other? I really want to get to the bottom of that."
Carson has faced significant criticism for his steadfast opposition to President Obama's refugee resettlement plan, which would bring 10,000 Syrians to the U.S. over the next year. He has asked Congress to defund any programs that assist refugees in coming to America, according to NBC News.
He told Breitbart: "For me it's not so much about taking refugees in here - I just don't think that's a good idea from the outset. It's really more about understanding the dynamic over there because I think we need to be working with some of the nations over there in terms of how do you resettle? And in terms of how do we form some kind of a coalition where you have peace and repatriate? That's what I'm looking for. I just think it's wrongheaded that the only solution is for us to take them here. That's not the right solution."
Some have also scrutinized Carson's foreign policy chops after he claimed at the last Republican debate that China is involved in the Syrian conflict and providing military equipment to Assad, according to Reuters. Others criticized him for suggesting that concerns about refugees are similar to parent's concerned about a "rabid dog running around in your neighborhood," reported NBC News. "We have to have in place screening mechanisms that allow us to determine who the mad dogs are, quite frankly," Carson said.
