Just as the top EU official for migration was urging the White House to be “more generous” in accepting Syrian refugees, Paris was struck by a series of attacks that immediately boosted political opposition to his pitch.
As in some other countries, the massacres have been co-opted by critics of refugee policy. The US in September agreed to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, up from 1,500, under pressure from Europe.
The fear that terrorists could enter the US masked as refugees was exacerbated after a Syrian passport was found near the body of one of the attackers. Many of the Republican presidential contenders and other party members now want the White House to scrap or defer the Syrian refugee programme.