Rush Limbaugh is dead wrong on the American response to the Syrian refugee crisis. It is hard to decipher, considering how he tries to be inaccurate with his claims so he can get away with saying whatever he wants, but Limbaugh alludes to 300,000 refugees being brought to America so that they can cash in on great big welfare checks and have access to “the good life.”
Limbaugh: I don’t know how many people are aware of this, but we are taking a certain number of Syrian and other middle eastern refugees in record numbers now – by presidential directive.
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I think in the case of Syrian refugees, there’s a number floating around in my head of 300,000. … It’s a huge number.
First point, Limbaugh is completely wrong on the number of refugees that America has taken in. The Obama administration has been asked by a group of Senators to receive 65,000 refugees. The UN has referred only 15,000 refugees to the United States. America has only agreed to receive 8,000 refugees. As of this moment, America has only resettled 1,434 refugees.
Limbaugh goes on to try and explain to his conservative listeners why these individuals want to come to America and turn themselves into welfare whores.
Limbaugh: Why aren’t they happy to stop and live in Turkey? And if they get to Europe, why aren’t they happy to stop and live in Greece? No, no no, this is not just about escaping war. They’re human beings! They want the good life! They want the good life in Germany, they want the good life in Sweden, they want the good life in Denmark. Cause that’s where all the benefits are.
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They want the good life. “Good life” being big welfare benefits.
There are currently almost 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Listen to Limbaugh’s racist segment below.
Then watch Vox’s explanation of the Syrian refugee crisis by the numbers and see how overblown Limbaugh’s claims are.