Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree issued the following statement today after voting against legislation to halt the admission of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the U.S.

America has long led the world in providing refuge for people fleeing persecution and violence. Now is not the time to end that legacy. We should not shut the door on Syrian and Iraqi refugees who are fleeing from ISIS’s brutality and terrorism—the same kind of acts that we mourn in France. To do so only emboldens ISIS and the hate it represents. 

As our country fights terrorism, it is absolutely critical that we take all steps necessary to protect the safety of the American people at home.  That is why the United States has developed the lengthiest and most robust process in the world to screen the security risk of refugees—a process that can take up to three years, involves multiple checks and the coordination of several agencies.

I support steps to strengthen this process—such as devoting more resources to performing these checks—but this legislation does not do that, nor does it make our country safer.  Its intention is to shut down refugee resettlement through years of delay and redundancy.  In the meantime, the children, widows and other victims of terrorism who are looking to the United States for refuge—as millions have before them—will continue to needlessly suffer.