U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone said 10,000 is not enough
HIGHLAND PARK -- Muslim, Jewish and Christian religious leaders gathered at the Reformed Church of Highland Park on Monday to push back against a rising tide of resistance to accepting Syrian refugees.
Even after the recent terrorist attacks in Paris this month, the United States needs to welcome more people fleeing from war and poverty in the Middle East, not fewer, said U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, who organized the event in the Second Avenue church's auditorium, surrounded by supportive community members and posters that drove the point home: "OPEN THE DOORS."
That's a departure from the prevailing sentiment in the lower house of Congress, where Pallone (D-6th Dist.) represents a swath of Middlesex and Monmouth counties. The House voted last week to effectively halt the acceptance of Syrian refugees, with dozens of Democrats -- not including Pallone -- supporting the measure. The Paris attack was directed by the Islamic State terror group that controls a wide swath of Iraq and Syria; at least one attacker may have traveled to France disguised as a fleeing migrant, reports have said.
The measure to restrict refugees hasn't been taken up in the U.S. Senate, and President Obama has vowed to veto it.
Monday's event in Highland Park took place far from the halls of Congress, but in a town where a debate about the competing values of safety and humanitarian obligations might make a real-world difference.
Pastor Seth Kaper-Dale and other local clergy have pledged to bring to Highland Park 10 refugee families from the war-town Middle East and North Africa, and they're encouraging surrounding towns to do the same. The group is aiming to bring the first refugees in by mid-December, and soon after Thanksgiving, Kaper-Dale said he's welcoming a large Syrian family that is settling in Paterson. They've raised $11,000 to support the refugees once they get here, Kaper-Dale said.
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Bethany Mandel, a borough resident, was one voice of dissent in the crowd, arguing that opposition to a surge of refugees is not, contrary to some statements at Monday's event, rooted ignorance. There are real concerns about radicalization of immigrants, with real-life precedents, she argued.
"Those concerns have now been declared xenophobic," said Mandel, who noted that she was probably the lone Republican in the room (the densely populated borough has a hard-won reputation for liberal activism, banning, for example, cigarettes for those under 21 and nuclear weapons across the board). "It makes you not want to engage in a conversation like this."
For the people chosen to speak at the event, representing a broad cross-section of religious groups, opposition to Syrian and other refugees is not just bad policy, it goes against the tenets of their faith.
"I take very seriously the commandment to take care of the orphan, the widow and the stranger," said Judy Richman, on the board of a group of observant Jews called Highland Park Minyan. "That's in black and white in our Torah."
Sami Catovic, the executive director of the New Brunswick Islamic Center, said that rejecting refugees would play right into the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria: They're seeking to divide the Middle East and the west.
"As a Muslim, I do not feel beholden to what ISIS says," Catovic said. "As an American I do not feel beholden to what ISIS says."
Catovic said that in the wake of the Paris attacks, some local Muslims have reported comments by their kids' classmates. Donald Trump, a candidate for president, claimed that thousands of people in Jersey City celebrated on Sept. 11, 2001, as lower Manhattan smoldered across the Hudson River, a claim not borne out in news coverage at the time.
It also was not Catovic's experience of Sept. 11.
"It was clear condemnation" from the Muslim community, Catovic said. "It was clear and unanimous."
Pallone said that a Senate bill to limit Syrian refugees in America would face a steep challenge in getting to 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster, much less 67 to override a veto. President Obama's administration has called for accepting 10,000 refugees from Syria. The administration also raised the overall cap of refugees to 100,000.
Pallone couldn't put a number on it, but he said the United States can and should do more. The security screening process is rigorous, carried out by four federal agencies, and takes upwards of two years. No terrorist has ever navigated it to gain entrance to the U.S., Pallone said.
"We've been a country that takes people who are refugees," Pallone said. "We shouldn't just change that as a knee-jerk reaction to what happened in Paris."
Brian Amaral may be reached at bamaral@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44. Find NJ.com on Facebook.