Ted Cruz: Obama’s refugee plan is ‘utter lunacy’

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas says President Obama’s plan to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States this year is “utter lunacy.”

“The Obama-Clinton plan to bring in tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees to America is utter lunacy,” Mr. Cruz, a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, said Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity” program.

“At a time when ISIS has declared war, at a time when radical Islamic terrorists want to murder as many Americans as possible, at a time when the Obama administration admits it can’t vet these refugees — the head of the FBI said they lack the information to be able to ascertain whether these refugees are in fact ISIS terrorists — it is the essence of reasonableness and common sense to say we shouldn’t be bringing in tens of thousands of refugees who may include ISIS terrorists,” Mr. Cruz said.

“And yet Obama, instead of defending this nation, just attacks you and me and every American who wants to keep this nation safe,” he said.

Mr. Obama has criticized the idea of allowing Christian refugees into the country but not Muslim refugees — an idea that has been pushed by Mr. Cruz.