We, The Immigrants, Of The United States

A major debate among presidential candidates, congress, and the public is based around the question of whether or not we should allow Syrian Refugees to take sanctuary and build a life in the United States.

A CNN article published in November of 2015, exclaims that 31 states do not welcome Syrian refugees. Back in November, “authorities revealed that at least one of the suspects believed to be involved in the Paris terrorist attacks entered Europe among the current wave of Syrian refugees. He had falsely identified himself as a Syrian named Ahmad al Muhammad and was allowed to enter Greece in early October”.

The CNN article continues to paint the picture of the forefront of the issue by stating that since 2011 only 1,500 Syrian refugees have been allowed into the US; however, the Obama administration was going to allow 10,000 Syrians entry this year.

The conflict of opinion seems as though it arises from the lack of knowledge among the American people, as well as the concentrated media coverage of what we should be focusing on in terms of letting in refugees.

Over 100,000 civilian Syrians have already been killed in the fight in Syria. Many are worried that it will be their last night alive. Despite the amount of hardship we know the Syrians are facing we continue to become increasingly less supportive of refugees of any kind coming into our country. In 1979 57% of Americans did not support allowing Vietnamese refugees into the United States. A poll taken in November of 2015 reported that more than 60% of Americans did not favor taking in Syrian refugees.

Have the American people become desensitized to the world around them? Do we only take concern when people are flanking our country by taking a “not-in-my-country” stance? Do we not remember what our history was and that our ancestors were all immigrants once? Do we think that our ancestors only moved “just because”?

Focusing on the “not-in-my-country” stance, should we really be concerned about terrorism by Syrian Muslims? The answer is maybe. No one can have a percentage of Muslim terrorists, but that is not to say that Syrian refugees can’t be terrorists. Should America live in fear of the possibility of 10,000 refugees being terrorists? The answer is not simple. Many state governors argue that refugees pose too great of a risk to national security. But what makes it ok for many countries in Europe to offer refuge? Why does religion scare us so much? Why aren’t we more focused on the terrorism that is based off of extremist religious beliefs rather than generally collect all types of the Muslim religion under the terrorist category?

Take for instance this article with the headline: “No Christians: All 132 Syrian Refugees Admitted to U.S. Since Paris Attacks are Sunni Muslims”.

Shouldn’t we be asking if we can actually deal with influx of refugees expected to come, rather than focus on extremist egocentric ideas?

Well, if you are not asking this question, here is the answer from a Business Insider Article from September 2015. Since 2011, most refugees are living in camps on Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq, where the UN registers them as refugees. At the time of the article, 18000 of the most vulnerable refugees were referred to the U.S, where the United States Department of Homeland Security screens and interviews them. “Each case file is reviewed by the National Counterterrorism Center” and other agencies. The procedure takes anywhere from 18 to 24 months. “Once refugees are approved, the State Department pays the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to fly them to the United States.” The cost for the screening alone costs the US government, thus far, $1.1 billion dollars resettling 70,000 people.

With an issue like the Syrian Immigrant Crisis continuing to be on the rise. We must put all the facts out on the table before sound opinion can be made. We must weigh the costs and the benefits and really leave all things considered.