Ben Carson compared Syrian refugees to dogs during a press conference on Thursday. Ben Carson compares Syrian refugees to dogs

Ben Carson likened Syrian refugees fleeing the country’s bloody civil war and Islamic State violence to dogs on Thursday.



Speaking to reporters following a campaign stop in Mobile, Alabama, Carson stressed that the United States wants smart leaders who care about people, but noted there should always be a balance between safety and humanitarian concerns.



“For instance, you know, if there is a rabid dog running around your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog, and you’re probably gonna put your children out of the way,” Carson said. “Doesn’t mean that you hate all dogs by any stretch of the imagination.”



Continuing his analogy, the Republican presidential candidate said that screening refugees is like questioning how you protect your children, even though you love dogs and will call the Humane Society to take the dog away to reestablish a safe environment.



“By the same token, we have to have in place screening mechanisms that allow us to determine who the mad dogs are, quite frankly,” he added. “Who are the people who wanna come in here and hurt us and wanna destroy us? Until we know how to do that, just like it would be foolish to put your child out in the neighborhood knowing that that was going on, it’s foolish for us to accept people if we cannot have the appropriate type of screening.”





The comments come as the retired neurosurgeon’s foreign policy chops have come under fire in recent days — even by those within his own camp. In a New York Times article published Tuesday, the news organization attributed comments to two members close to Carson’s campaign, questioning his ability to grasp foreign policy.


The Times described former CIA officer Duane Clarridge and Carson’s close friend Armstrong Williams as top advisers in its report, though the campaign has dismissed the notion that Clarridge is a top adviser.

Carson said Thursday that while he appreciates Clarridge's service in the CIA, the agency veteran has only sat in on two sessions. “Does that make him a senior adviser? I don’t think so,” Carson said. “He’s not one of the people that I talk to on a regular basis to get advice.”

Incongruously, despite the campaign’s push to distance itself from Clarridge, it sought him out for input on an op-ed published in The Washington Post on Wednesday. The former CIA officer also clarified in an interview with POLITICO that he still supports Carson, despite his harsh, on-the-record criticism of his foreign policy knowledge.

As for Williams, Carson described him Thursday as an “independent agent … who has nothing to do with the campaign,” and said he had given the Times names of his actual top advisers. “And they talked to them and told them a lot of good things,” Carson said. “They chose to leave all that out, so obviously it was [a] hit piece.”

Carson's campaign later on Thursday emailed supporters condemning President Barack Obama's policies toward Syrian refugees while soliciting donations. “We must keep America safe. That is my goal, and I frankly don’t care if the PC crowd is offended. The time for feel-good measures is over,” the email says. “It’s time to secure our borders, and stop President Obama’s dangerously naïve plan to bring tens of thousands of Syrian refugees to our shores.”

The figure Carson provided was not accurate — the Obama administration plans to admit just 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. in 2016. And although it’s unclear whether states have any authority to do so, more than 30 governors — mostly Republicans — have revolted against the president’s plans, with most saying they won’t allow Syrian refugees within their borders.



Obama has threatened to veto congressional legislation that would bar Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the country unless they pass stricter background checks. The House, however, passed that measure Thursday afternoon.