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Republican Presidential Candidate Ben Carson To Appear At Costa Mesa Fundraiser

COSTA MESA (CBSLA.com) — Presidential hopeful Ben Carson is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser in Costa Mesa Tuesday, a day after joining a chorus of mostly Republican voices criticizing the Obama administration's plan to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States.

Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, turned to Facebook to announce he would ask Congress to stop the plan.

"There is currently no ability to vet these people," Carson said on Monday. "By letting refugees into our country without vetting we are putting America at risk. If our president cannot see the risk, then we must rise to the challenge and protect our country."

One of the terrorists killed in Paris Friday reportedly carried an emergency passport or similar document. He had falsely declared himself to be a Syrian named Ahmad al Muhammad and was allowed to enter Greece in October, making his way to Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia, where he registered at a refugee camp, an unnamed French senator told CNN. Eventually he made his way to Paris, where fingerprints of the Stade de France bomber matched those on his passport.

Speaking at a news conference Monday in Antalya, Turkey, site of the G20 summit, President Barack Obama said the Syrian refugees are admitted "only after subjecting them to rigorous screening and security checks."

"We should do everything in our power to help these men, women, and children who have been forced to flee their country, but until we can sort out the bad guys, we must not be foolish," Carson said.

Carson held a fundraiser at a Beverly Hills restaurant on Monday, an aide said, which like most fundraisers for presidential candidates was closed to reporters.

Tuesday's fundraiser will also be closed to reporters.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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