--- title: Trump: Syrian Refugees Will Be Sent Back If I'm Elected description: "If I win, they're going back, I'm telling you." canonical: https://time.com/4056951/trump-syria-refugees/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-01T00:52:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:25:13.307Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Says He'll Send Syrian Refugees Back If Elected og:description: "If I win, they're going back, I'm telling you." og:url: https://time.com/4056951/trump-syria-refugees/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcdfefa8c0372a1a8/6988665b0a4a2250579c659e/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Keene, New Hampshire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Says He'll Send Syrian Refugees Back If Elected twitter:description: "If I win, they're going back, I'm telling you." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcdfefa8c0372a1a8/6988665b0a4a2250579c659e/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Says He'll Send Refugees Back to Syria If Elected  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Oct 1, 2015 12:52 AM UTC  Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall event at Keene High School on Sept. 30, 2015 in Keene, New Hampshire. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a town hall event at Keene High School on Sept. 30, 2015 in Keene, New Hampshire.Darren McCollester—Getty Images  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Oct 1, 2015 12:52 AM UTC Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that if elected to the White House, he will send Syrian refugees back to their homeland. At a one-hour rally in Keene, New Hampshire, Trump pulled no punches. “I’m putting the people here on notice that are coming here from Syria as part of this mass migration that if I win, if I win, they’re going back,” Trump said to cheers. “They’re going back, I’m telling you, they’re going back.” This is the latest in a series of conflicting statements Trump has made regarding his position on the Syrian refugee crisis. On September 9, [Trump criticized American leadership for not accepting more Syrian refugees](http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/politics/donald-trump-kim-davis-syrian-refugees/). The next day, following a Capitol Hill rally criticizing the Iran nuclear agreement, [he told CNN the American response should be limited.](http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/10/politics/donald-trump-syrian-refugees/) “I think we should help, but I think we should be very careful because frankly, we have very big problems.” he said. “We cannot help everybody through the world.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4056951/trump-syria-refugees/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4056951/trump-syria-refugees/"},"headline":"Trump Says He'll Send Refugees Back to Syria If Elected","datePublished":"2015-10-01T00:52:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:25:13.307Z","description":"\"If I win, they're going back, I'm telling you.\"","url":"https://time.com/4056951/trump-syria-refugees/","keywords":["2016 elections","republicans","Syria","Syrian refugees","Donald Trump","Refugee crisis","migrant crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcdfefa8c0372a1a8/6988665b0a4a2250579c659e/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcdfefa8c0372a1a8/6988665b0a4a2250579c659e/trump5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Keene, New Hampshire","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Keene, New Hampshire","creditText":"Darren McCollester—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-elections/","name":"2016 elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4056951/trump-syria-refugees/","name":"Trump Says He'll Send Refugees Back to Syria If Elected"}}]}] ```