Cuomo: Blocking Syrian refugees is akin to America losing its soul

In his first comments on the issue, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday that governors have no legal authority to block Syrian refugees from their states and morally shouldn’t.

In an appearance at Harvard University, the Democrat said governors who are vowing to keep refugees from entering their states were engaging in “pure politics” because they had no authority on the issue. It is the federal government’s authority, Cuomo told former presidential adviser David Gergen in a question-and-answer session at the Kennedy School of Government.

“This is an election season, so the silly season has started and the governors can say ‘I will refuse to let the refugees in.’ How? How? Where does it say in the state constitution you can refuse a person placed by the federal government?" Cuomo began. “It's a pure political statement. It's up to the federal government.”

Going further, Cuomo said prohibiting refugees from the U.S. would be akin to America losing its soul.

“We have to protect Americans and not lose our soul as America in the process,” he said.

He continued, telling Gergen:

“The day America says, ‘Close the gates, build the wall,’ then I say take down the Statue of Liberty because you've gone to a different place. And read Emma Lazarus and the poem on the Statue of Liberty ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.’ Once you say we're out of business, that's no longer true. So, I won't let them win by conceding defeat of the American Dream. At the same time, this federal government needs to make sure it's doing the screening and the people that are coming in are safe and the federal government has to say ‘we are capable of doing that.’ And if the federal government is not capable of doing that, David, then they should say that, too. If you really can't screen, then the answer is ‘We can't screen.’ But their position is ‘We can screen. We can screen effectively.’ And if that's the case, do the screening. Make sure it's right. Do it exhaustively. But don't give up your soul as America.”