Republicans are trying to put the brakes on plans to admit thousands of refugees from Syria after deadly attacks in Paris highlighted concerns that terrorists may be trying to use that welcome to sneak into the U.S.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's office said in a statement Sunday that the state was putting on hold efforts to accept Syrian refugees until the federal government conducts a "full review" of the vetting process.
"Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration. But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents," the statement said.
French authorities believe at least one of those involved in Friday's attacks, which have been blamed on the Islamic State, may have entered that country in the flow of hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing a nearly five-year-old civil war. But the White House said Sunday that the attacks, which killed 129 and injured more than 350, would not change its plans to admit 10,000 Syrians as refugees in fiscal 2016.
"We have the most extensive security vetting that we have ever had to deal with Syrian refugees coming into the United States that involves not just the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, but also our intelligence community, the National Counterterrorism Center, so that anybody who comes to the United States, we are carefully vetting against all of our information," White House adviser Ben Rhodes told CNN.
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