--- title: Governors Vow to Block Syrian Refugees After Paris Attacks description: A growing number of U.S. governors are refusing to admit Syrian refugees after the terrorist attacks in Paris canonical: https://time.com/4114480/governors-vow-to-block-syrian-refugees-after-paris-attacks/ author: Alex Altman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-16T16:53:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T22:31:57.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Governors Vow to Block Syrian Refugees After Paris Attacks og:description: "Opening our door to them exposes our fellow Americans to unacceptable peril." og:url: https://time.com/4114480/governors-vow-to-block-syrian-refugees-after-paris-attacks/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23e9e7e668f07ae6/698871700b72e37a1a6e6db5/syrian-refugees-governers-us.jpg?branch=production&width=616&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 616 og:image:height: 347 og:image:alt: GREECE-EUROPE-MIGRANTS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Governors Vow to Block Syrian Refugees After Paris Attacks twitter:description: "Opening our door to them exposes our fellow Americans to unacceptable peril." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23e9e7e668f07ae6/698871700b72e37a1a6e6db5/syrian-refugees-governers-us.jpg?branch=production&width=616&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:57 video:published: 2015-11-17 section: politics topics: Syrian refugees, U.S. refugee policy, background checks, terrorism concerns, ISIS, religious test, national security, humanitarian protection genre: political debate, news reaction tones: urgent, concerned, defiant, compassionate emotions: concern (high), anger (medium), compassion (medium), fear (medium) sentiment: negative audience: voters, policy observers, news audiences, immigration advocates organizations: White House, Homeland Security, ISIS content_suitability: war [00:00-01:57]; violence [01:38-01:48]; hate [00:00-00:11]; politics [00:00-01:57]; crime [00:53-01:15] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Governors Vow to Block Syrian Refugees After Paris Attacks > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ea0c81df-8c99-43cd-89c0-1d7f359c7145&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Twice a week | time.com/newsletters, September 2026 | | Written by | Philip Elliott, Senior Correspondent | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership The policy influence ecosystem. A policy-focused audience spanning government, public affairs, advocacy, law, research, political media, and the institutions that make, interpret and respond to public policy. ### TIME D.C. Brief: key statements * D.C. Brief is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * D.C. Brief is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ea0c81df-8c99-43cd-89c0-1d7f359c7145&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/subscribe?i=ea0c81df-8c99-43cd-89c0-1d7f359c7145&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is TIME's politics newsletter? D.C. Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ea0c81df-8c99-43cd-89c0-1d7f359c7145&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Politicians React to U.S. Policy on Syrian Refugees [Watch (HLS stream): Politicians React to U.S. Policy on Syrian Refugees](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xRGMbKjA.m3u8) (1:57)  _Published 2015-11-17_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary A political video features several unnamed political leaders reacting to U.S. policy on admitting Syrian refugees. Speakers debate whether to welcome refugees fleeing war while raising concerns that terrorists could exploit the process. The clip includes calls for more information from the White House and Homeland Security on background checks and tracking refugees within states. ## Key points - A speaker says a religious test for admitting people fleeing war-torn countries would be shameful and not American. (00:03) - A speaker says the nation will not turn its back on refugees from Syria and Afghanistan, drawing applause. (00:36) - A speaker warns that refugees pouring in from Syria may include ISIS members, saying 'We don't even know who they are.' (00:53) - A speaker says the country must not let terrorists take advantage of its compassion, and that it is better to be safe than sorry. (01:15) - A speaker calls for the White House and Homeland Security to explain the background checks and how states will be informed where refugees settle. (01:24) - A speaker argues the United States and world should go on offense to stop the conditions forcing people to leave Syria. (01:38) - A speaker says their heart wants to let refugees in, but their head says they must protect the people of Alabama. (01:50) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:36] Criticism of religious test for refugees. Speakers condemn suggestions of a religious test for refugees fleeing war and political persecution. - [00:36 to 01:15] Welcoming refugees versus security concerns. Speakers defend the nation's welcoming tradition while warning that refugees could include ISIS members. - [01:15 to 01:57] Calls for background checks and offense. Speakers urge clarity on background checks and state tracking, and call for stopping conditions driving Syrians to flee. ## Key quotes - [00:20] unidentified speaker: "That's not American." - [00:36] unidentified speaker: "we will not turn our backs on the refugees from Syria and Afghanistan" - [00:53] unidentified speaker: "They could be ISIS. They could be anybody." - [01:15] unidentified speaker: "But, we cannot let terrorists take advantage of our compassion." - [01:50] unidentified speaker: "My heart says that we should let them in." ## Questions this video answers - Should the United States admit refugees fleeing war in Syria and Afghanistan? [00:36] - Could refugees from Syria include ISIS members or terrorists? [00:53] - How will states be informed about where refugees are settling? [01:28] - How can the U.S. and world address the reasons people are leaving Syria? [01:38] ## Content suitability - war [00:00-01:57]: Discussion of refugees fleeing war-torn countries, Syria and Afghanistan. - violence [01:38-01:48]: References to people being raped and murdered in Syria. - hate [00:00-00:11]: Mention of a suggested religious test for admitting refugees. - politics [00:00-01:57]: Political debate over refugee admission and national security policy. - crime [00:53-01:15]: Concerns that terrorists could enter among refugees.  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:31 PM UTCPublished: Nov 16, 2015 4:53 PM UTC  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:31 PM UTCPublished: Nov 16, 2015 4:53 PM UTC A growing number of U.S. governors are refusing to admit Syrian refugees, citing security concerns underscored by the terrorist attacks in Paris. The Republican governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Texas, Mississippi and Florida said over the weekend and on Monday morning that they would block Syrian refugees from being resettled in their states. Meantime, the governors of Illinois and Indiana said they were temporarily suspending any resettlements and the governor of Massachusetts said he is “not interested” in accepting refugees “as of right now.”  Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, speaks during an interview in New York City on July 14, 2015 Bloomberg/Getty Images “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,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote in [a letter to President Obama](http://gov.texas.gov/files/press-office/SyrianRefugees%5FBarackObama11162015.pdf) on Monday. “Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity. As such, opening our door to them irresponsibly exposes our fellow Americans to unacceptable peril.” Arkansas’ Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, announced the news in a tweet Monday: > [](https://twitter.com/AsaHutchinson/status/666281290883166208) European officials have said one of [the members of the terrorist cell](http://time.com/4114167/paris-attacks-suspects/?xid=homepage) that killed at least 132 people in the Nov. 13 attacks was a Syrian citizen who entered the continent amid the stream of refugees fleeing the war-torn nation. The man, identified as Ahmad al-Mohammad, registered as an asylum seeker on the Greek island of Leros on Oct. 3\. He blew himself up at the edge of the Stade de France on Friday night and was identified by his fingerprints. The U.S. has resettled about 1,800 refugees from Syria so far in 2015, according to statistics compiled by the State Department. The White House has pledged to admit at least 10,000 more over the fiscal year that began Oct. 1\. That’s a sharp uptick, but far less than the number received by wealthy Western nations like Germany. Top Democratic leaders have urged the U.S. to take on a greater role in easing the humanitarian crisis sparked by the war in Syria. Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said in September that the U.S. should increase its target to admitting 65,000 Syrian refugees, who are fleeing due to wide-scale violence perpetrated in part by the same jihadist groups behind the Paris massacre. “We’re facing the worst refugee crisis since the end of World War II and I think the United States has to do more,” the former Secretary of State [said](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-u-s-should-take-65000-syrian-refugees/). “I would like to see us move from what is a good start with 10,000 to 65,000 and begin immediately to put into place the mechanisms for vetting the people that we would take in.” But in times of fear, security concerns tend to trump compassion. And in the wake of the Paris attacks, the politics of admitting refugees has just gotten much trickier. **Read Next:** [_Obama Hits Bush and Cruz Over Syrian Refugees_](http://time.com/4114505/paris-attacks-barack-obama-jeb-bush-ted-cruz/) ## Transcript [00:00] When I hear political leaders [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:03] suggesting that there would be a religious test [00:05] [ BLANK_AUDIO ], [00:08] for which [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:11] a [00:13] person who's fleeing from a war torn country is admitted. [00:16] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:20] When some of those folks themselves come from families [00:23] who benefited from protection when they [00:27] were fleeing political persecution, that's [00:32] shameful. That's not American. And [00:36] when hundreds of thousands of people have lost [00:40] everything, have nothing left but the shirts on their backs, [00:44] we will not turn our backs on the refugees from Syria and [00:49] Afghanistan. [ APPLAUSE ] Refugees are pouring into our [00:53] great country from Syria. We don't even know who they [00:55] are. They could be ISIS. They could be anybody. What's [00:59] our President doing? Is he insane? We can't act as [01:03] though we're shutting the doors to people in need without [01:08] undermining who we are as Americans and the values we [01:11] have stood for. [ APPLAUSE ] Our nation has always [01:15] been welcoming. But, we cannot let terrorists take [01:18] advantage of our compassion. This is a moment where it's [01:21] better to be safe, than to be sorry. We need to hear from the [01:24] White House and Homeland Security on exactly what [01:28] these background checks are. What they, how they [01:31] communicate to us in the States where these people are [01:34] settling, so we can keep track of exactly what's occurring [01:38] within our states. I believe the United States and the world [01:40] needs to go on offense and stop the reason people have to [01:42] leave Syria. The good people are leaving because they're [01:46] being raped and murdered, and some terrorists are trying [01:48] to get in their ranks. My heart says that we should let them [01:50] in. But my head says that I have to protect the people [01:54] of the state of Alabama and keep them secure. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4114480/governors-vow-to-block-syrian-refugees-after-paris-attacks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4114480/governors-vow-to-block-syrian-refugees-after-paris-attacks/"},"headline":"Governors Vow to Block Syrian Refugees After Paris Attacks","datePublished":"2015-11-16T16:53:53.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T22:31:57.000Z","description":"About two dozen so far","url":"https://time.com/4114480/governors-vow-to-block-syrian-refugees-after-paris-attacks/","keywords":["paris attacks","Texas","alabama","Michigan","Refugees","States","Arkansas"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23e9e7e668f07ae6/698871700b72e37a1a6e6db5/syrian-refugees-governers-us.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Altman","jobTitle":"Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/alex-altman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23e9e7e668f07ae6/698871700b72e37a1a6e6db5/syrian-refugees-governers-us.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GREECE-EUROPE-MIGRANTS","caption":"A family of Syrian refugees arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos on Nov. 17, 2015.","creditText":"Bulent Kilic—AFP/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":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/paris-attacks/","name":"paris attacks"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4114480/governors-vow-to-block-syrian-refugees-after-paris-attacks/","name":"Governors Vow to Block Syrian Refugees After Paris Attacks"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Politicians React to U.S. Policy on Syrian Refugees","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xRGMbKjA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-17T23:15:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xRGMbKjA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4114480/governors-vow-to-block-syrian-refugees-after-paris-attacks/","duration":"PT1M57S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4114480/governors-vow-to-block-syrian-refugees-after-paris-attacks/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```