Rep. Scott Tipton will keep his shutdown salary. (Photo by Karl Gehring.)
WASHINGTON — In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, no lawmaker from Colorado has been more outspoken than U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton in opposing the admission of Syrian refugees to the United States.
Just this week, the Republican from Cortez with Gov. John Hickenlooper over the policy, wrote President Barack Obama about the same and co-sponsored two pieces of legislation that would both bar the use of federal funds to admit Syrian refugees and toughen the vetting process.
Until the government has the capability to sufficiently vet and verify the identities of the refugees, admitting tens of thousands of them without that safeguard would provide ample opportunity for an ISIS terrorist to hide amongst them posing as an asylum seeker, Tipton said in a statement. I can t in good conscience sit idly by and allow that to happen.
His hardliner stance is notable even among Colorado Republicans, who generally have been more skeptical of the process than their Democratic counterparts.
Where colleagues such as U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., have urged caution about the admission of refugees, Tipton has been vocal opponent.
He said Hickenlooper was in voicing support for the relocation of refugees to Colorado and on Wednesday Tipton was the only member of Colorado s delegation to to Obama urging the president to halt the entry of refugees from Syria and Iraq.
The dozens of signatories described the conflict in the Middle East as unique and said those fleeing the fight only should be admitted after the administration had bolstered the vetting process and created an extensive monitoring process for all relocated refugees.
Though they did not single out Tipton, humanitarian groups have criticized congressional efforts to slow or stop the entry of refugees.
These proposals send exactly the wrong the message to the world and to U.S. allies in the Middle East and Europe, said Eleanor Acer of the group Human Rights First in a statement. America should be standing up for the victims of terrorism and repression, not abandoning its principles by slamming the door on rigorously vetted refugee families, and children.
In an interview, Tipton said he was sympathetic to their plight but that U.S. security should be the top concern.
“One individual is able to do a lot of damage,” he said.
Tipton, a former state lawmaker and , has been mentioned as a to Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, who is up for re-election next year.
Asked about that possibility, Tipton said is was not under consideration for right now. “Our focus is on the Third (Congressional District) and we re planning on running for re-election,” he said.
