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U.S. Senator Rob Portman Says Refugee, Visa Programs Need To Be Reviewed

Statehouse News Bureau
Statehouse News Bureau

Lawmakers including Gov. John Kasich and all but two of Ohio’s Congressional delegation have raised concerns and voted against Syrian refugees being resettled in the US and Ohio right now. U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R) says he thinks the process for vetting refugees coming into the country needs to be reviewed and strengthened. But he says the largest problem right now is with the visa program.

“Both the regular visa program and even more difficult to assess people is the visa waiver program. Of countries, in particular, the 38 countries that have a visa waiver program with us, there are 5,000 foreign fighters, it is estimated, who have come from those countries to go into the fight as Jihadists. It’s possible for them to go back to their home country and then get access to the United States through the visa waiver programs.”

Portman says he thinks the bill passed by the U.S. House that would suspend the refugee program would pass the Senate.

Contact Jo Ingles at jingles@statehousenews.org.
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