Donald Trump calls on Saudi Arabia to take in refugees after spat with Saudi Prince online
'Has Saudi Arabia, taken any of the Syrian refugees? If not, why not?'
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Your support makes all the difference.Hot on the heels of demanding all Muslims be banned from the US, Donald Trump has called on Saudi Arabia to take in Syrian refugees.
Mr Trump made the demand on Twitter writing: “Has [...] Saudi Arabia, taken any of the Syrian refugees? If not, why not?”
The comment comes after Mr Trump became embroiled in a row with Saudi prince Prince Alwaleed, the chairman of Kingdom Holding, who branded the businessman was “a disgrace” and should withdraw from the presidential race following his controversial remarks about the apparent threat posed by Muslims.
“You are disgrace not only to the GOP [Grand Old Party] but to all America,” Prince Alwaleed, said on his Twitter account. “Withdraw from the US presidential race as you will never win".
Mr Trump has been outspoken about the refugee crisis and has previously attacked the Gulf States' response. When asked if he would consider accepting refugees into the US by Fox News, he replied: “From a humanitarian standpoint, I’d love to help, but we have our own problems."
“You have the Gulf States, tremendously wealthy [...] they’re not taking anybody Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain”.
Speaking to MSNBC in September the businessman said: "I'm putting people on notice that are coming here from Syria as part of this mass migration, that if I win, they're going back," adding that Isis militants could be among the refugees.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia released a statement claiming it had given residency to 100,000 Syrian refugees following queries about how wealthy Arab states had reacted to people fleeing Syria's civil war, The Guardian reports.
No Gulf county has signed the UN Convention on Refugees, which sets standards for the treatment of those fleeing for a new country.
According to the UNHCR's representative for the Gulf region, there are 500,000 Syrians in Saudi Arabia, but in official documentation they are referred to as "Arab brothers and sisters in distress" and not Syrian nationals.
The Kingdom was criticized this year following claims over 100,000 empty, air-conditioned tents, used to house pilgrims taking part in the hajj, which could take up to three million refugees were standing empty in Mina, the International Business Times reports.
Seventy-two per cent of Democrats, and 47 per cent of voters overall, said they were offended by Mr Trump's proposal to ban immigrants from joining American Muslims, who make up less than 1 per cent of the population.
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