Gov. Scott Walker (Photo: WRN)
Despite saying he has continued concerns about the safety of allowing refugees of Syrian descent into the country, Governor Scott Walker is acknowledging there’s little he can actually do to keep them from being settled in Wisconsin.
Walker is among many Republicans who have called on the U.S. government to stop admitting refugees into its borders, and has also instructed state agencies not to assist with settling any in Wisconsin. Still, he admitted to reporters Wednesday there’s little he can actually do keep it from happening. “Legally, I can’t put a wall up at the border,” he said.
Walker said he’s not opposed to letting refugees in eventually, but he has serious concerns about the process used to check for possible security risks. “They don’t give us any information one way or the other as to what level they are doing it on, and my confidence is what’s at question right now in this administration,” Walker said.
For example, the governor said President Obama sent a letter on November 13 that indicated ISIS was contained, just hours before a series of terrorist attacks in Paris. “Either our administration didn’t know, didn’t have adequate intelligence to know that something like this was a threat…or they did know, and they didn’t tell the American people,” Walker said. He called either possibility “equally unsettling.”
AUDIO: Gov. Scott Walker (:39)
Walker indicated the federal government has told him they will be providing the state with information such as the national origin, age, and gender of refugees being settled in states, but he believes that’s not detailed enough. He argued the federal government should be providing the public with that information, along with more details about the process used to vet refugees.