Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton listens to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. (Rick T. Wilking/Pool via AP)

(CNSNews.com) - At Sunday night's debate, Democrat Hillary Clinton was asked about her plan to admit 65,000 Syrian refugees into the Unites States, up from the current quota of 10,000.



"Well, first of all, I will not let anyone into our country that I think poses a risk to us," Clinton said.



She pointed to the many refugees who are women and children, including the little boy whose photo was flashed around the world as he was bundled into an ambulance with blood on his face.



"There are children suffering in this catastrophic war, largely, I believe, because of Russian aggression," Clinton said. "And we need to do our part. We by no means are carrying anywhere near the load that Europe and others are. But we will have vetting that is as tough as it needs to be from our professionals, our intelligence experts and others."





Many more refugees have streamed into Europe than the United States because they do not have to cross an ocean to get to Europe. They are fleeing the violence in Syria, a country that disintegrated in 2011, when protests inspired by the so-called Arab spring -- a movement supported by Hillary Clinton -- devolved into civil war.



The United States, meanwhile, is leading the coalition that is trying to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The Obama administration insists that a political transition is the only way to end the civil war in Syria, but diplomatic efforts to bring that about have failed.



Last week, when reporters asked Obama spokesman Josh Earnest what happens next regarding Syria, he replied: "We're going to have to pursue an alternative approach. I don't have much to say about that right now."