While Republican congressmen and presidential candidates debate among themselves whether to ban all Muslim refugees seeking to immigrate to the United States or merely the majority of them, the parallel effort to make sure we treat the Jesus People properly continues apace.
In an interview with radio host Kevin Miller on Tuesday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) spoke about his new bill to make it much easier for Christians and other religious minorities fleeing ISIS-related violence to resettle in the United States. [...]
“I think the U.S. has a moral imperative to try and save these Christians and the other small minority groups,” he said. “So I would create a special kind of visa program that wouldn’t take any access away from anyone else in the United States, but would recognize that Christians — like Jews in the Soviet Union — are being singled out for persecution and elimination. That’s in our interest, as it is in combating the Islamic State.”
This is very noble for a man who demanded we delay American plans to accept 10,000 fleeing Syrian refugees because he just wasn't sure we could trust them. The ones who say they are Christian are, of course, entirely trustworthy. Nobody who would admit to being the same religion as Tom Cotton could be bad.
Refugees fleeing violence have provided the prime fodder for Republican rhetoric for longer than Tom Cotton has been in office. First it was Central American children fleeing drug violence and guerrilla war that were the existential danger to America, so much so that Republicans were blocking buses in their efforts to make sure none of the little terrified menaces would be housed or fed in their towns. These days it is the people fleeing ISIS that can't be trusted.
Unless they're the right religion, meaning whichever ones Tom Cotton personally approves of.