Rep. Bob Dold: Time to Hit the 'Pause Button' on Taking in More Refugees

Rep. Bob Dold says it is absolutely time to hit the "pause button" on admitting more Syrian refugees into the United States — but the Illinois Republican adds the threat of a government shutdown should not be a pawn in any fight over the issue.

"My own opinion is we do not want to shut down the government over this. We want to make sure that again, we are keeping our doors open in terms of letting the government operate. We need to make sure that our intelligence community is fully operational. We need to make sure that our military is operational," Dold said Tuesday on Newsmax TV's "The Hard Line" with Ed Berliner.

Watch Newsmax TV on DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Ch. 223 and Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system — Click Here Now

"So this is not the time for us to be shutting down the government. Having said that, I do think this is an opportunity, when we talk about national security, that this is an issue that we do need to take and hit the pause button for the safety and security for the United States and its citizens."

Dold, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said anything less could jeopardize the lives of Americans.

"We want to talk about a common sense approach. Frankly, our first obligation needs to be making sure that we're protecting American citizens … [to] verify that people coming into our country from the Syrian and Iraq areas are indeed not a threat to the U.S. and to our citizens," he told Berliner.

"We are a nation of immigrants, but what we also need to recognize is that we're in a midst of a war on terror. What ISIS has said is they want to take the fight to us and what we've seen is a lot of abled body men coming across the borders.

"We want to make sure that again, we are opening our doors to Christian Syrians, the Assyrian Christian population … However, we need to take a pause … to determine are these individuals coming across the borders looking for safe haven — are they going to be legitimate refugees or are they actually a Trojan horse for ISIS."

Dold's views echo those of House Speaker Paul Ryan who is calling for a temporary halt in a White House program to settle Syrian refugees in America because of security fears in the wake of last week's terror attacks in Paris.

Ryan and half of the nation's governors are urging President Barack Obama to suspend the program while the review process for the refugees' entry in the country is carefully scrutinized. Administration officials believe the screening process is tough enough to keep terrorists out.

Related Stories:

• Ryan Calls for Pause in Syrian Refugee Program
• US Administration Defends Syria Refugee Program