You know, saying that we've got a lot of refugees coming in here is a lot scarier sounding than saying that we've got thousands of people coming here every day on visas.
If you say "refugee" people associate it with displaced people who are homeless, and nothing is known about them, so they are "scary".
If you say "people coming here on visas" people don't get scared, because they associate that with legal travel and people coming here on business.
Only problem is..................refugees are screened a lot closer than people with visas are.
The only Muslim terrorist attacks that have been done in this country are either by (a) US born citizens who became radicalized, (b) Naturalized US citizens who became radicalized, or (c) people who were already radicalized that came here on visas (9/11 and San Bernadino come readily to mind).
Zero terrorist attacks have been done by refugees. Not in this country at least, and that is because we take the time to screen those who wish to come here as best we can, a process that takes anywhere from 18 to 24 months to complete.
Coming here on a visa? Not so much, if your superficial information looks good, they let you in.