Rand Paul has called for people from countries in the Middle East to be refused entry to the United States until a better vetting process has been established and the country can establish exactly who is coming and going when part of the world seems intent on sending over people who want to destroy the US.
Paul, appearing on Meet the Press on NBC with Chuck Todd on Sunday, said that more needs to be done to protect Americans from the terrorist threat in the wake of the massacre in San Bernardino in California last week. Paul says he does not advocate the wholesale invasion of the privacy of all Americans, as the government has previously suggested, but wants to increase the security process when dealing with the Middle East. He has introduced new legislation to end immigration from around 34 countries.
“So we as of a nation have the ability and should have the ability to decide who can come here and when they come here,” Paul notes. “Right now, we don’t know who is here … I don’t think we’re doing an adequate vetting process of those coming to our country.”
Paul adds that there are around 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States, 40% of whom have overstayed a US visa. He says that the government often has no idea where these immigrants are or whether they could be potential threats.