Gov. Christie criticized, closing NJ's door on Syrian refugees

Governor Christie's decree that New Jersey will be closed to Syrian refugees has been met with some criticism, including from the clergy.

"He has no power to say what he's saying, no power," said the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale of the Reformed Church in Highland Park. Kaper-Dale added that "a governor cannot tell us who we can let into this state or not.  That's not his right."

Kaper-Dale has a long track record of helping refugees of all sorts find food and shelter in New Jersey. 

He points out that because of the time it takes to immigrate to the United States, any Syrian refugee would likely have begun his trek long before ISIS became an organized force.

Now, refugees have to pass certain federal checkpoints to enter the United States.

Immigration applications all go through the State Department as well as other agencies, Counter Terrorism, The Defense Department, FBI, Homeland Security, and etc.

There is already a process made for Syrians only, called Syrian Enhanced Review.

“We should be deeply concerned about the potential of future attacks. To think that the deep concern should be linked to slowing down refugee resettlement, that’s the big mistake. Let’s put our energy and time into doing the things that would actually secure our country,” Kaper-Dale said.

Christie joined 30 other governors on Monday -- all Republican except one -- in saying that their states won't accept refugees from Syria. 

This came as a response to French authorities saying that one of the Paris terrorists had used fake Syrian credentials to get into France.