All three candidates reaffirmed the need for the U.S. to take in higher numbers of refugees, despite renewed calls from conservatives to refuse them entry in light of Friday’s attacks in Paris. Bernie Sanders affirmed that “the U.S. has the moral responsibility, along with Europe” to take in refugees from places like Afghanistan, as well as Syria. But he declined to commit to a specific number. “What the magic number is, I don’t know,” Sanders said.
Hillary Clinton affirmed that 65,000 refugees would be the right number, while pointing out that the Obama administration has only committed to 10,000, but stressed she’d only increase the number so if there was adequate security screening and vetting. “I do not want us to in any way inadvertently to allow people who want to do us harm to come into this country,” she said. Martin O’Malley pointed out that he was “the first person on the stage” to commit to 65,000 as the threshold.
The Democratic position stands in sharp contrast to Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz, who laid out a hard line after the Paris attacks. “We need to immediately declare a halt to any plans to bring refugees that may have been infiltrated by ISIS to the United States.”