WASHINGTON—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement:

“I call on the Administration to extend the temporary protected status for Syrians so that they aren’t delivered to the hands of a regime responsible for the murders of hundreds of thousands of its own citizens and where millions more need humanitarian assistance.  Syrian refugees want to return home to Syria. They feel a strong and abiding connection to their homeland. They want to rebuild their country. But they cannot reach those goals while Assad remains in power. Until we see a political transition, the same challenges will plague that country and the crisis will endure. That’s why we need a much greater commitment to a Syria strategy that includes compelling the Assad regime and its backers to end the violence and move toward a transition.”

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