BOSTON – Carrying signs depicting the Statue of Liberty or scrawled with slogans, several hundred people gathered on Boston Common in front of the State House Friday to protest a measure passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would toughen screening requirements for refugees from war-torn Syria.
"If we act out of fear, the terrorists win," some of the signs read.
LYNN – Gov. Charlie Baker said Massachusetts won't do anything to halt its participation in refugee-resettlement programs as he seeks to learn more about the screening of individuals fleeing war in the Middle East.
"The state's role in this is as a collaborator, and I have no intention of having Massachusetts walk away from its commitment and its participation in refugee resettlement programs," Baker told reporters after an economic development announcement in Lynn on Monday. "But I am very interested in knowing a lot more about how the feds deal with situations that involve governments in countries that for the past 10 years have basically been broken."
