CNN on Wednesday night aired an interview with one of the two Syrian refugee families that have arrived in Rutland. The segment aired just hours after reports surfaced that President Donald Trump plans to stop refugees from Syria from entering the U.S. via an executive order.
Hazar Mansour, a French teacher, said on the program “Anderson Cooper 360°” that she, her husband and their two small children are happy to be in Vermont. They fled Damascus during a civil war in Syria that, according to the United Nations, has killed more than 400,000 people. They made it to Turkey and then went through two years of background checks before arriving in Rutland two days before Trump’s inauguration, Mansour said.
“We were worried about ourselves, worried about our children,” Mansour said. “We want to live in peace. It’s better than living in the war situation we were in.”
“I like Vermont and the people of Vermont,” said her husband, Hassam Alhallak, an accountant.
A local couple is hosting them while their apartment is readied, CNN reported.
The segment featured an interview with Rutland Mayor Chris Louras, who led the effort to make Rutland a refugee resettlement hub that would have welcomed 25 Syrian families in 2017. Louras said Wednesday that Trump’s plan to bar refugees from Syria would effectively end those plans. No more refugee families are expected to arrive in Rutland, Louras said.
He told CNN why he supported the resettlement, calling it “the plain right thing to do from a compassionate, humanitarian perspective.” He added that the refugees could have helped to revitalize the community.
CNN also featured an interview with Rutland doctor Timothy Cook, an opponent of the refugee resettlement plan.
“I think we’ve done enough as a country,” Cook said. “I’m tapped out and this nation is tapped out. We need to fix our own problems first and then we can reconfigure and see if we can rescue the rest of the world.”
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Stupid comment at the end. We’re only “tapped out” because republicans spent 8 years trying to strangle the economy because they resented having a black democratic president getting anything done and now they’re wasting all their time trying to wipe out his legacy like the true racists they are. This country is awash with money. The only reason most of us suffer is because those who have the most have a strangle hold on the supply and won’t even so much as let people earn a living wage. There’s more than enough money and resources for everyone these days. We just have our priorities all screwed up and it’s been done to fool people like the good doctor at the end who actually thinks that there’s a shortage of something in this country. The republicans do well when we are divided and they’ve come up with a perfect strategy to get it done and keep us this way. Lie, lie some more and lie again, over and over again until the lye sounds true. The only shortage we seem to have is a shortage of compassion and love. Plenty of bombs to drop on all the country’s where the refuges are coming from though. Np problem with coming up with more money for that and creating more refugees and plenty of money to develop more and more propaganda to denigrate their character even before anyone gets to meet and talk with them.
Good for Trump. Finally a political figure in this country following through with campaign promises. This country is tapped out John, I’m not sure about you but I know that the taxes I pay never seem to have a positive effect on my life. The government that is made up of both Republican and Democrats never seem to give anything back to the people of this country. Instead billions of dollars is sent to foreign countries and we here at home suffer. If you really want change in this country we need to stop playing the blame game and start looking for commen ground solutions to our nation’s problems. Once all the needs of American citizens are met then and only then should we be spending money to fix other countries problems. And by the way try not to forget that the “black president ” you refer to financed two of the largest terrorist organizations before he left office when he signed the Iran deal and turned over 221 million of your and mine dollars to the Palestiniansame. How about that legacy a US president supporting terrorist that want to see our country destroyed. And by referring to former President Obama as a ” black president” some might think you yourself are a racist.
Tapped out is exactly right Tim Cook, M.D. Trump as MY president who won fair and square. Thank god we have a president who is making decisions focused on America First, a person eager to and knowledgeable about dealing head-on with the huge gravy train filled with illegals and home-grown slackers. The sanctuary city model is scary. I want to know who is living in my community, my country, and want those who are here illegally gone. I am fine with using my tax dollars to help immigrants using the legal path to citizenship. Our veterans deserve all the niceties being extended to refugees in Vermont: housing assistance, free medical care, EBT cards, a vehicle. Thoroughly investigate those receiving government financed benefits & revamp the system to minimize fraud. End someone’s benefits if they are scamming. For those found to be legitimately needing assistance, job training or at the very least, establish a program where people get benefit credits for doing volunteer work in their communities.
Well I know some people in Rutland who are glad that Pres Trump put a Ban on anymore refugees coming into our country….John where in the devil did you get the idea that there’s plenty of resources for everyone these days, what world you living in??? Must be a liberal who only see through rose colored glasses.. there are a lot of people out of work, losing their homes, living on the streets,senior citizens trying to make do on their low SS, Veterans not getting the help they need after coming home from fighting a war for your sorry butt!!!! The refugees, illegals get SS and they haven’t even put anything into it.. We hard working Americans did/do..The democrats hasn’t done a thing but sit on their butt and lined their pockets, it was the democrats, who wouldn’t give the seniors a raise (cost of living), nor a raise in the pay to our Military, but they pushed through a $15.00 a hr to burger flippers, do you know that our servicemen/women only get about $7/8 hr, they don’t get days off, call in sick and their jobs are 24/7..But saying all this is a waste of time to you liberals, you just listen to the obamas and Clintons who have always lined their pockets with the taxpayers money..Americans come first!!!!
THANK GOD FOR PRES DONALD TRUMP!!!! Who cares for the American citizens and loves America..
@John Meshna, the disaster in Syria, the lies and dropping of US-manufactured bombs is unfortunately a bipartisan matter; not some “Republicans bad; Democrats good” scenario. Yes, Bush & Cheney responsible for lying the country into war with Iraq, with Hillary Clinton’s support (although plenty saw through it from the get-go, including Jim Jeffords, Bernie Sanders, Ted Kennedy, etc). But Hillary with Obama’s blessing then doubled-down on the neo-con intervention-first strategy as Secretary of State in Libya & Syria.
Yes, our budgetary priorities are screwed up but don’t kid yourself the Democrats are somehow immune. Leahy & Bernie among the F-35 cheerleaders, regardless of negative impact. Not to mention Democrat LBJ. Whatever makes the arms merchants & politicians wealthy, whichever party you’re from.
This family and so many others who were not as lucky were only so much collateral damage to Hillary and the CIA’s unauthorized endless proxy war vs. Iran. Credit Obama that he did not take the bait and escalate from the already outrageous Libyan arms-running to Syria and “rebel” training to a full-on war a la Bush in Iraq. Still, if the US would mind its own business a little more, whichever party, this family may never have been pushed out of Damascus. May Hillary and Bill Clinton, as well as Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. personally adopt and personally financially sponsor many hundreds of these families to come live with them. It is the least they could do after refusing to listen to the American people.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sach…
The doctor is “tapped out”. I’ve never heard of a doctor being tapped out.