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Former Marine Explains Why Refugees Should Be Welcome In America

"It's only during frightening times when you get to find out if your country really deserves to call itself the 'home of the brave.'"
Dominique Mosbergen
By 

Senior Reporter, HuffPost

Refugees from Iraq and Syria arriving on the island of Lesbos in Greece on October 14, 2015.
Refugees from Iraq and Syria arriving on the island of Lesbos in Greece on October 14, 2015.
Credit: Spencer Platt via Getty Images

As the U.S. House voted to tighten restrictions on the resettlement of Syrian refugees, former Marine and award-winning author Phil Klay took to Twitter to express his disappointment. Klay reminded Americans that “it's only during frightening times when you get to find out if your country really deserves to call itself the ‘home of the brave.’”

Klay is veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and author of “Redeployment,” winner of the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction.

The House, including 47 democrats, voted overwhelmingly to enforce even more stringent requirements to an already lengthy refugee screening process. According to Bloomberg, Republicans are currently preparing other, even more drastic bills aimed at closing off American borders to refugees from Syria and Iraq -- the majority of whom are women and children.

Klay wrote:

Klay joined the Marine Corps in 2003. He served in Iraq from January 2007 to February 2008.

Also on HuffPost:

These Are The Terrifying Syrian Refugees Coming To The U.S.

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