As a part of our Connecting Congress series, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY10) spoke with Brian about Syrian refugees, the threat of ISIS, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and how he would want his constituents to assess his effectiveness.

You can listen to the full interview here and read highlights below:

When asked about House Speaker Paul Ryan’s remarks about exercising caution in accepting Syrian refugees, Nadler said:

"These people are refugees from ISIS. They are not ISIS people. We have a very good vetting system. We can vet to make sure no one gets in, and the real danger to us is not that out of 10,000 people one may be a terrorist. The danger to us is home-grown terrorists, are people who are radicalized here."

He also said that he wouldn't want to see history repeat itself:

"If it weren’t for the anti-Semitic, xenophobic, 1924 Immigration Act…maybe two million of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust would have been in New York instead. We shut our doors to people in need when they were Jewish. We can’t do that again.”

He responded to the 30 governors that say they will refuse to let Syrian refugees enter their respective states to keep their citizens safe:

"I think the governors are being irresponsible and xenophobic and political. The states, frankly, have no role in immigration or foreign policy. It’s a federal role alone. Any governor who says he’s going to do something about it is talking unconstitutionally. The real question is does Congress have a role? Certainly, but our role ought to be that the vetting is as good as possible and that we’re safe."

In terms of what to do to deal with ISIS and how military force can be used, Nadler had this to say:

"Well, there’s no question that military response is needed, but that does not mean American troop because what ISIS wants above all else is to draw troops from predominately Christian countries into Syria to fight a climactic battle, that’s part of their methodology."