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U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., says the United States may have to pause its program to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees. He is concerned about the security screening of refugees after the Paris terror attacks last week. Schumer is shown at an October 2015 ceremony to mark the completion of the Connective Corridor project in Syracuse.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, in a break with most of his Democratic colleagues, says the U.S. may have to consider a pause in the resettlement of Syrian refugees.

Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would not take the option off the table until he has a classified briefing on the issue today with Homeland Security officials.

Most Republican governors and some GOP leaders in Congress have suggested halting the U.S. program to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees after reports that one of the men involved in last week's Paris terror attacks had entered Europe posing as a Syrian refugee.

President Barack Obama and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo are among Democrats who have dismissed the suggestion, calling it a rejection of American values.

"We have to protect Americans and not lose our soul as America in the process, right?," Cuomo said Tuesday. "The day America says, 'Close the gates, build the wall,' then I say take down the Statue of Liberty because you've gone to a different place. I won't let them win by conceding defeat of the American Dream."

U.S. Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Monday that he supports accepting the Syrian refugees -- but only after the United States sets up a more rigorous screening program.

"It's a huge issue," Katko said. "We're a land of immigrants. But it's a real problem because both ISIS and al-Qaida have said they want to infiltrate the West through the refugees. That doesn't mean we shouldn't take them."

New York has taken in about 50 Syrian refugees this year, according to the State Department.

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