Mitch Perry
Lieutenant Governor Carlos Lopez-Cantera is standing foursquare behind his boss, Governor Rick Scott, in opposing any Syrian refugees coming into Florida.
“We have recently become aware that private organizations could receive federal funding to house up to 425 possible Syrian refugees in the state of Florida,” Lopez-Cantera, a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, said in a statement issued Monday afternoon. “As Lieutenant Governor of Florida, I stand with Governor Scott, and we must use whatever power we have to refuse to accept these so-called refugees in our state. There is no mechanism to verify whether these individuals have any involvement with Islamic terror groups, and Florida cannot take that risk.”
Scott penned a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier on Monday, acknowledging that the law does not allow the states to unilaterally reject such refugees. He called on Congress to block the funding that would allow such refugees to come to Florida.
In his statement, Lopez-Cantera makes the same request.
“I call on Congress to take immediate action to prevent any federal money to fund the relocation of possible Syrian refugees to Florida, and to immediately pass legislation to suspend President Obama’s ability to accept refugees from Syria until we can assure that we are not putting Floridians’ safety at risk.”
From Oct. 1, 2014 to Sept. 30, 2015, 2,709 refugees worldwide have come to Florida. Those include 104 Syrians, most of whom settled in Hillsborough and Miami-Dade counties.
In addition to Scott, at least 11 other Republican governors said on Monday that they oppose allowing any Syrian refugees to come into their states.
