WORLD NEWS

11h ago | 01:47

Obama: In Syrian refugees 'we should see Jewish refugees of WWII'

At immigration ceremony, President Obama said, ''In the Syrian seeking refuge today, we should see the Jewish refugee of World War Two.'' Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

TRANSCRIPT -

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION). STORY: At an immigration ceremony in Washington, D.C., U.S. President Barack Obama said, "In the Syrian seeking refuge today, we should see the Jewish refugee of World War Two." Obama who delivered remarks at the U.S. National Archives said, "We celebrate this heritage as an immigrant nation and we should be strong enough to acknowledge, as painful as it may be, that we haven't always lived up to our own ideal." He said, "From the start, Africans were brought here in chains against their will, and then toiled under the whip. They also built America." "During World War Two, Germans and Italians were detained and in one of the darkest chapters in our history Japanese immigrants and even Japanese American citizens were forced from their homes and imprisoned in camps. We succumbed to fear," he said. "We need to resolve never to repeat mistakes like that again," he said. "In the Syrian seeking refuge today we should see the Jewish refugee of World War Two."