John Oliver Slams Republicans Using Fearmongering Tactics to Refuse Syrian Refugees


On Sunday, John Oliver weighed in on the mounting refusal by many Republican governors to take in Syrian refugees in the wake of the deadly Paris attacks earlier this month.

“It is absolutely fair to be concerned about safety in the wake of these attacks, and it’s fair to wonder who we’re letting in or what kind of screening process in place,” Oliver said. “Unfortunately, many of the people talking about it this week don’t seem to have the first idea of what we’re doing.”

After displaying a montage of GOP politicians using baseless scare tactics to question the rigor of the current vetting process, the Last Week Tonight host deftly walked viewers through the intensive system all Syrian refugees must go through in order to be accepted into the United States.

“This is the most rigorous vetting anyone has to face before entering this country,” he said. “No terrorist in their right mind would choose this path when the visa process requires far less effort. But nevertheless, the House still voted on Thursday to add a few more steps.”

Oliver then singled out former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for the fearmongering approach he’s used to justify blocking refugees resettlement.

GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

payment methods

GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate