John Kasich Shifts His Stand on Accepting Refugees

New York Times

By Alan Rappeport

November 17, 2015

John Kasich Shifts His Stand on Accepting Refugees 

Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio takes the stage at the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday to talk foreign policy, and his remarks are likely to showcase how quickly the national security landscape has shifted in just a couple of months.

Mr. Kasich, a moderate Republican presidential candidate, has struck a more inclusive tone than his rivals on immigration but has lurched to the right in recent days on the question of taking in Syrian refugees.

In September, Mr. Kasich said it was America’s responsibility to take in Syrians on humanitarian grounds.

“I wouldn’t say to these people, ‘You can’t come in,’ ” Mr. Kasich told Fox News.

“I mean, we’ve got the Statue of Liberty that says ‘Give us your tired, your poor.’ The people who want to be free.”

He expressed a bit more reticence later that month, emphasizing the need to thoroughly vet any refugees from Syria, but still expressing support for President Obama’s plan to accept 10,000 from the war-stricken country.

But after Friday’s attacks in Paris, Mr. Kasich changed his tune. In a letter to the president, Mr. Kasich has requested that the flow of refugees be halted and that no additional Syrians be settled in Ohio.

“The governor is writing to the President to ask him to stop, and to ask him to stop resettling them in Ohio,” Jim Lynch, a spokesman for Kasich’s administration, told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“We are also looking at what additional steps Ohio can take to stop resettlement of these refugees.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Kasich is expected to share his vision for strengthening America’s diplomatic alliances and promoting “fundamental Western values.” For the time being, those do not include accepting refugees from Syria.

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