NASHVILLE — The Tennessee ACLU and a state-based advocacy group for refugees are denouncing as “reprehensible” and “dangerous” a call by state House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada to round up Syrian refugees here, ship them elsewhere and use the state National Guard to block federal officials from re-locating any more here.
Stephanie Teatro, co-executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, charged today that as other Tennessee “opportunistic politicians” have triggered a “xenophobic race to the bottom,” Casada “has now taken this dangerous rhetoric to a new low.”
But the GOP Caucus chairman showed no signs of walking back his comments this afternoon as he spoke to reporters as Republicans and Democrats nationwide come to verbal blows over the self-described Islamic State’s terror attacks last week in Paris.
Casada noted the Islamic State itself says it is sending its “soldiers” into Europe and the U.S. And he said FBI Director James Comey has acknowledged the U.S.’s screening process on refugees isn’t perfect.
Asked whether some of what he is calling for violates protections in the U.S. Constitution, Casada said “you have to ask yourself, which is greater — life or due process?” Casada said.