Giving shelter to a relatively small number of Syrians during the worst refugee crisis in decades is grounds for impeachment, according to one Republican congressman.
During an appearance on The Dale Jackson Show, a local Alabama radio show, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) was asked about President Obama’s plan to allow 10,000 refugees from war-torn Syria to come to the United States over the next year.
After criticizing the potential cost of resettling 10,000 refugees — “We’re going to be giving welfare to all these people!” — Brooks blasted Obama as the “primary world player” who caused the refugee crisis and bemoaned that the president wouldn’t “stand up and take responsibility for this mess.”
However, when the host asked about Obama’s plan to give shelter to thousands of refugees, Brooks called it “horrendous” and “an abdication of responsibility.”
“I think it’s an impeachable offense,” the Alabama Republican said. “But we don’t have the votes to even get articles of impeachment out of the House of Representatives or the Judiciary Committee.”
Listen to it:
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Brooks is far from the first GOPer to fearmonger about resettling refugees from the Middle East. Complaining that refugees just want free stuff, wondering why the United States has any responsibility to help those in need, and stoking Islamophobic fears is commonplace in conservative circles these days.
Sadly, such rhetoric is having an effect. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump initially supported bringing in more Syrian refugees, telling MSNBC, “It is a huge problem and we should help as much as possible.” However, after uproar on the issue from conservatives over the past month, Trump reversed himself at a town hall this week, saying of Syrian refugees, “If I win, they’re going back.”
Threatening to impeach Obama for giving shelter to Syrian refugees is just the latest controversial statement from Brooks. In the past, he has speculated that a measles outbreak in the United States was caused by “illegal aliens,” promised that on the issue of undocumented immigrants, he would “do anything short of shooting them,” and said that Michelle Obama should have been arrested for bringing an undocumented girl to the State of the Union address.