The Obama administration was caught off-guard as public and political sentiment began to sway against its policy of allowing Syrian refugees into the country, and a multi-front effort has been enacted to regain ground,
Politico reports.
The House passed a veto-proof bill on Thursday to curtail the acceptance of refugees, and the bill now goes to the Senate. President Barack Obama has said he will veto the bill.
With Obama overseas as the debate heats up, Vice President Joe Biden took up the battle on the homefront, saying that turning away the refugees would risk the country losing its soul.
"I would argue we're in danger of losing it now," Biden said in a speech at the Aspen Institute Summit on Inequality and Opportunity.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey held a quickly put-together press conference on Thursday in which they sought to allay fears.
"I understand people are concerned and they’re anxious and they’re afraid. I understand all of that," Lynch said. "I just find it very troubling when we live and we take action out of fear as opposed to out of resolve and determination and based on facts."
Two former Homeland Security secretaries, President George W. Bush's Michael Chertoff and Obama's Janet Napolitano, signed a letter telling Obama existing screening procedures to weed out terrorists are thorough and robust.
The White House tweeted a copy of the letter and created a "By the Numbers" graphic intended to be shared on social media.
Obama tweeted from Asia on the subject, and the tweets were then compiled into a Facebook post:
"Slamming the door in the face of refugees would betray our deepest values. That's not who we are. And it's not what we're going to do," Obama said in his final tweet.
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