Refugees wish more focus on Syria, less on closing US doors - ABC 40 KRHD-TV - Bryan/College Station News and Weather |

Refugees wish more focus on Syria, less on closing US doors

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Syrian man whose family was the first to be resettled in the U.S. as part of the U.S. "surge" refugee program says President Donald Trump should help topple Syria's regime rather than press to close off U.S. borders to more refugees.

Forty-eight-year-old Ahmad Alabood's assessment Friday through a translator came hours before Trump signed an executive action imposing "new vetting measures" that he says are aimed at keeping "radical Islamic terrorists" out of the U.S.

Alabood says he's concerned that efforts to restrict the flow of refugees into the U.S. could wrongly cast those displaced in an unfavorable light among some Americans, fanning anti-Muslim sentiment.

Alabood said his wife and five children have been treated warmly since they arrived in Missouri last year.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.