Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton told Fox News he believes America should accept some of the refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict, but said we should be careful to screen out any jihadis trying to use the program to sneak into the country.
The
State Department announced the plan last week to quadruple the number of Syrians admitted into the country.
"I think admitting some of these refugees for political asylum purposes is the right thing to do," Bolton said Thursday on Fox News Channel's
"On the Record with Greta Van Susteren."
"I think America has a tradition of political asylum dating back to the founding. We have benefited from having political refugees from all over the world."
But, Bolton said, the United States is not obligated to take people in, and does so only as a matter of discretion.
"In the context of Syria, the Obama administration spent close to four years trying to find the moderate Syrian opposition to arm and assist, and didn't have a lot of luck doing it," Bolton said. "So I think we can go slow on the admission process here and really check the applicants out."
Bolton said the better solution is to provide more humanitarian aid to the people in the refugee camps and ultimately to send people back to the homes where they came from when that is possible.
From America's perspective, there is a national security threat, he said.
"A large asylum decision in this country, which the president's apparently trying to do, would make it very easy for people to come in, bringing 'families' with them," he said, which is something he would be "very worried about."
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