SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Friday blasted the vetting process that allowed San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik to enter the United States, saying that if she was able to pass through the visa screening process it should “end the debate” on bringing Syrian refugees into the United States. "If that vetting resulted in missing someone who could carry out such a horrendous crime, that should be the end of the argument right there. We shouldn’t even have to talk about this anymore," Carson said during a speech to the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Carson qualified his statement by saying that "someone told me this today" but that he would "have to check it out" to confirm the information.
Malik was born in Pakistan and lived in Saudi Arabia. She reportedly entered the country in 2014 on a K-1 "fiance visa." Because that type of visa would require a U.S citizen as a second party, Malik would have undergone a drastically different screening process than what refugees undergo. That process would also take less time — under a year — while refugee screenings take as many as three years.
Carson visited two refugee camps in Jordan the weekend after Thanksgiving on a short “fact-finding” journey to investigate the situation of the millions of people displaced by the Syrian civil war. He has since stood firm in his belief that refugees should not be brought into the country, instead advocating that the international community expand the aid it gives to countries like Jordan to maintain existing facilities.
Carson repeated that point Friday, saying that bringing refugees into the United States poses a security risk and does not make a significant impact in a refugee crisis involving millions of displaced people. "All that does is make some people feel good about themselves,” he said.
Reports surfaced Friday that Malik, who along with her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, killed 14 people and injured 21 others, had pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on social media. The shooting is being investigated by the FBI as a potential act of terrorism.
"If that is not the end of the argument, one would have to be very suspect about the motives of bringing people into this country when we have perfectly reasonable solutions to taking care of them,” Carson said.
Carson trumped TRUMP. 