(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) US President Barack Obama lashed out Wednesday at Republicans who insist on barring Syrian refugees from entering the United States, deeming their words offensive and insisting "it needs to stop." "Apparently they're scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America," Obama said on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the Philippine capital, Manila.
He said that attempts to block the entry of Syrian refugees into United States are "offensive and contrary to American values".
Mocking GOP leaders for thinking they're tough, Obama said overblown rhetoric from Republicans could be a potent recruitment tool for the Islamic State group. He insisted the U.S. process for screening refugees for possible entry into the U.S. is rigorous and said the U.S. doesn't make good decisions "based on hysteria" or exaggerated risk.
"We are not well served when in response to a terrorist attack we descend into fear and panic," the President said.
Calls are growing for close vetting of refugees from Syria. Republicans in Congress and on the 2016 presidential trail have urged an immediate closure of America's borders to Syrian refugees, but the Obama administration has shown no sign of backing off its plans to bring an additional 10,000 Syrians fleeing civil war into the U.S.
More than half of the governors of America's 50 states have said they will not accept Syrian refugees after one of the Paris attackers allegedly posed as a refugee carrying a Syrian passport.
The U.S. has only accepted 1,900 Syrians as refugees during the four years of the Syrian civil war, far fewer than many countries in Europe and in the region.
Some of those 1,900 refugees have been settled in Massachusetts, Illinois and Texas. All three governors of those states now say they will not accept any more.
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