--- title: Barack Obama Hits Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz On Syrian Refugees description: President Obama sharply criticized Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz for their reactions to refugees in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. canonical: https://time.com/4114505/paris-attacks-barack-obama-jeb-bush-ted-cruz/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-16T16:08:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:55.142Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Hits Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz on Refugees og:description: He criticized them for saying the U.S. should prioritize Christians. og:url: https://time.com/4114505/paris-attacks-barack-obama-jeb-bush-ted-cruz/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b9f65e2c7120ce8/6988713ff887dc43ade93549/barack-obama-g20.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: U.S President Barack Obama speaks to the media during his closing press conference on day two of the G20 Turkey Leaders Summit on November 16, 2015 in Antalya, Turkey. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Hits Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz on Refugees twitter:description: He criticized them for saying the U.S. should prioritize Christians. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b9f65e2c7120ce8/6988713ff887dc43ade93549/barack-obama-g20.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama Hits Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz Over Syrian Refugees > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=10892c4d-40bf-4022-aa43-4fcb27c7ee25&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 16, 2015 4:08 PM UTC  U.S President Barack Obama speaks to the media during his closing press conference on day two of the G20 Turkey Leaders Summit on November 16, 2015 in Antalya, Turkey. U.S President Barack Obama speaks to the media during his closing press conference on day two of the G20 Turkey Leaders Summit on November 16, 2015 in Antalya, Turkey. Chris McGrath—2015 Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 16, 2015 4:08 PM UTC President Obama sharply criticized Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz for their reactions to refugees in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. Speaking at the G20 summit in Turkey on Monday, Obama called out Bush and Cruz, without naming names, for their remarks that the United States should prioritize accepting Christian refugees. “When I hear folks say that maybe we should just admit the Christians but no the Muslims, when I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which person who is feeling from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefitted from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that’s shameful,” Obama said. “That’s not American. That’s not who we are.” Former Florida Gov. Bush [told CNN](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/15/jeb-bush-u-s-assistance-for-refugees-should-focus-on-christians/) Sunday, “We should focus our efforts as it relates to refugees on the Christians that are being slaughtered.” The same day, Texas Sen. Cruz [continued to call for barring Muslim refugees](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/15/cruz-no-meaningful-risk-of-christians-committing-terrorism/) from entering the country, adding that “there is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror.” “If there were a group of radical Christians pledging to murder anyone who had a different religious view than they, we would have a different national security situation,” Cruz said. **Read Next:** [_Syrian Refugee Policy Takes Focus in U.S. 2016 Politics_](http://time.com/4114030/us-politics-2016-syrian-refugee/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4114505/paris-attacks-barack-obama-jeb-bush-ted-cruz/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4114505/paris-attacks-barack-obama-jeb-bush-ted-cruz/"},"headline":"President Obama Hits Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz Over Syrian Refugees","datePublished":"2015-11-16T16:08:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:55.142Z","description":"President Obama sharply criticized Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz for their reactions to refugees in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.","url":"https://time.com/4114505/paris-attacks-barack-obama-jeb-bush-ted-cruz/","keywords":["White House","2016 Election","Barack Obama","Foreign Policy","Syria","ted cruz","jeb bush"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b9f65e2c7120ce8/6988713ff887dc43ade93549/barack-obama-g20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b9f65e2c7120ce8/6988713ff887dc43ade93549/barack-obama-g20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S President Barack Obama speaks to the media during his closing press conference on day two of the G20 Turkey Leaders Summit on November 16, 2015 in Antalya, Turkey.","caption":"U.S President Barack Obama speaks to the media during his closing press conference on day two of the G20 Turkey Leaders Summit on November 16, 2015 in Antalya, Turkey.","creditText":"Chris McGrath—2015 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/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4114505/paris-attacks-barack-obama-jeb-bush-ted-cruz/","name":"President Obama Hits Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz Over Syrian Refugees"}}]}] ```