More US states close doors to Syrian refugees

Republican governors say they will not allow Syrian refugees into their states in the wake of  the recent deadly attacks in Paris .

The two US states of Texas and Arkansas said Monday that they would follow the lead of multiple other states and stop accepting refugees from war-ravaged Syria.

Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, and Mississippi governors said Monday that the states would not allow Syrian refugees to enter.

Republican governors Greg Abbott of Texas, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Mike Pence of Indiana, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Phil Bryant of Mississippi also slammed plans by the administration of US President Barack Obama to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the coming years.

"Texas cannot participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees - any one of whom could be connected to terrorism - being resettled in Texas," Abbott said in an open letter to US President Barack Obama."Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terrorist activity."

According to CNBC, other states that have also spoken out against refugees are Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Secretary of State John Kerry in September said the United States would increase the number of refugees it takes in from all nations by 15,000 per year over the next two years, bringing the total to 100,000 a year by 2017.

The decisions to stop accepting refugees from Syria came after gunmen and suicide bombers, believed to be with the Daesh Takfiri militant group, killed more than 130 people in a series of coordinated attacks in Paris, the worst such event in France since World War II.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in September that Obama ordered his administration to “scale up” the number of Syrian refugees admitted to the US for next fiscal year, beginning October 1.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley said he would oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to the state through the US Refugee Admissions Program.

"The acts of terror committed over the weekend are a tragic reminder to the world that evil exists and takes the form of terrorists who seek to destroy the basic freedoms we will always fight to preserve," he said in a statement. "I will not place Alabamians at even the slightest, possible risk of an attack on our people."

In Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder’s office released a statement on Sunday, saying it will not accept any Syrian refugees until the Department of Homeland Security fully reviews its procedures.

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