Thinkprogress.org:

Rather than escaping a bloody civil war, a United States congressman suggested that Syrian refugees are coming to the U.S. for free vacations.

In an appearance on the Dale Jackson Show on Friday, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) discussed the Syrian crisis and President Obama’s pledge to shelter 10,000 refugees.

Instead of viewing refugees as people fleeing the violence that has claimed more than 200,000 lives, Brooks saw a host of incoming welfare queens intent on taking advantage of Americans’ generosity.

“We’re paying them about $15,000 a year in free health care, free food, free shelter, free clothing, free transportation,” Brooks said. “That answers very quickly why so many of them want to come to the United States of America.”

“We’re paying them to come here,” the Alabama congressman concluded. “It’s a paid vacation!”

Listen to it (relevant section at 5:30):

Brooks went on to claim that violence is inherent in Islam, and thus a small number of terrorists accurately represent the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims. “This is not radical Islam. This is fundamentalist Islam,” he said. “I think you can make a very compelling argument that these terrorists are doing exactly what the Koran tells them to do.”

“I think you can also make a pretty good argument that there is a large segment of the Muslim population that is not engaged in terrorism but who is morally in support of what these terrorists are doing,” he continued. “It’s been this way for 1,300 years.”

Brooks also went on to accuse Democrats who support giving shelter to Syrian refugees and protecting the rights of Muslims of only doing so in order to win their votes.

Throughout his career, Brooks has made no secret of his distaste for both Muslims and immigrants. In the past, he has threatened to impeach President Obama for taking in Syrian refugees, erroneously accused “illegal aliens” of causing the measles outbreak, burnished his anti-immigrant chops by saying he “will do anything short of shooting” undocumented immigrants, engaged in conspiracy theories about Obama’s childhood years in Indonesia, and argued that Michelle Obama should have been arrested for bringing an undocumented immigrant as her guest to a State of the Union address.

On average, over 120 people are killed daily in Syria. That’s approximately the same number of people killed in the recent Paris rampage, except in Syria, it recurs each day and again the next, without pause, for the past four and a half years.

Does Congressman Brooks really believe his own words? His language is incendiary. Perhaps the way to make certain that Muslims become terrorists is to act and speak like Congressman Brooks. I think something is fundamentally wrong when members of congress feel that they can insult an entire religion publically, without consequence.

3 Thoughts to “That’s a really crass calculation, Congressman”

  1. Pat.Herve

    Very sad that he was elected to be a leader – he is certainly not a leader.

  2. Cargosquid

    “Perhaps the way to make certain that Muslims become terrorists is to act and speak like Congressman Brooks”

    If that is all it takes for people to become terrorists, then we should not allow them in the country.

  3. Cargosquid

    According to Bernie Sanders, these are climate change refugees.

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