Watch: Sarah Palin Had No Idea There’s A Refugee Screening Process, So Seth Meyers Had To Explain It

Watch as Sarah Palin covers up her lack of knowledge about the intensive and rigorous refugee screening program by blaming Obama.

Monday night Sarah Palin was Seth Meyers’ guest on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” and the topic of the Syrian refugee crisis came up. Palin, a former (half-term) governor, has been cheering on the 30 or so Republican (and one Democratic) governors who insist they will deny the refugees entry to their states – something that is not only unconstitutional and illegal, but practically impossible.

Palin, as she did last week, Monday called the governors’ America’s “last line of defense,” as if they personally are standing at their borders, perhaps muskets in hand, ready to forcibly refuse refugees.

But one thing seemed especially clear when Palin was talking with Meyers in defense of the governors.

She had no idea there is a rigorous and intensive program in place, involving the Dept. of Homeland Security and several other federal government agencies, to ensure refugees coming to America are thoroughly vetted.

“Their message is not, we don’t want Syrian refugees,” Palin said, presumably speaking for the governors. “Their message is, what is the vetting process? How do we know that these are the innocents who are coming over and actually needing aid, and they’re not the bad guys infiltrating under the guise of refugee? And they want a vetting process, because we don’t have that from the top, we don’t have that at the federal level.”

Um, actually, governor, we do (see below).

Meyers very generously pretended he wasn’t correcting her, and offered a very and gracious response.

LOOK: Texas GOP Governor Abbott Hypocritically Tramples On Religious Freedom

“In order for any refugees to come in, it is, like, an 18- to 24-month process for them to get through,” Meyers told Palin. “It starts at the UN, and then it comes through multiple government agencies here in the states. Is it maybe just that, at the core, I think there’s just a lack of trust across the board of the federal government? Do you think that’s what these governors are really saying, that ultimately anything the federal government tells them, they don’t trust?”

Of course, Palin went for it, because she’s made her fortune claiming that government is bad and doesn’t work, and President Obama can’t be trusted.

“Well, I don’t trust what the federal government is telling us,” Palin said. “But even you should not trust that the federal government is telling you about the 18- to 24-month vetting process is as legit as perhaps they’re trying to make the public believe, because truly, there is no way to filter out those that would want to do this country harm with the process that we see in place today. And that’s why it’s not just Republican governors, but Democrats, too, who are saying, wait a minute — somebody’s got to be the last line of defense here, so the states are taking on that authority.”

Meyers, who at this point deserves a medal for finding common ground with the former Republican vice presidential nominee, settled on “freedom,” to which Palin of course agreed.

“If we were to strive to reach absolute safety, we would not have freedom,” Palin said. “If people have the choice here — I mean, we can have both, but we’re all about freedom. That’s a foundation of our country, so we’re not going to give up freedom for that.”

But Meyers quickly took back the upper hand.

“I think this idea that they’re coming here to infiltrate, I think that is fear-based,” Meyers said. “I do think they want to come here and enjoy the same things you and I are lucky enough to enjoy.” 

And Palin was stuck being forced to agree, after the audience applauded Meyers.

“I do think most people want to come to America to enjoy what it is that we’ve been blessed with,” Palin said. “I do, I do. It’s just unfortunate that we know, as we saw in Paris, there are some people who want to get to a country to do harm. But no, I agree with you — for the most part, people want to be here to enjoy that exceptionalism that we’re all blessed to enjoy.”

Watch:

 

By the way, here’s a graphic via The White House that details the actual vetting process:

 

Image: Screenshot via Late Night with Seth Meyers/YouTube
Hat tip and transcript via Travis Gettys/Raw Story