During Trip to Middle East, Carson Surveys Syrian Refugee Facilities: ‘Really Quite Nice’

During a foreign policy trip to the middle east, presidential candidate Ben Carson Sunday said he thought the Jordanian facilities housing Syrian refugees were “really quite nice.”

Reflecting on his visit, Carson told CNN that refugees, “are satisfied to be in the refugee camps if the refugee camps are adequately funded,” adding “in these camps they have schools, they have recreational facilities that are really quite nice. And there are all kind of things that make life more tolerable.”

Carson said during his trip he realized many refugees share “an intense desire” to go back home noting he was “a little bit surprised” to learn not all refugees are interested in migrating to America.

“There’s so many people who think the ideal for everybody is to come to America and be resettled here, but that is not the ideal for everybody,” Carson said.

Carson also pushed back on claims he compared Syrian refugees with “rabid dogs,” telling NBC’s Meet the Press it was a misunderstanding fueled by the news media. “They understand here that we’re talking about the jihadists, the Islamic terrorists. And it’s very obvious to most of them,” Carson said.

“The reception is quite warm. So maybe they can teach us a little bit about how to interpret language,” Carson added.

[Image via Wikimedia Commons]

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