If you’ve ever sat down and discussed the Syrian refugee crisis with anyone, you might have come across individuals who are opposed to accepting any refugees in need simply because of where they come from and their possible religion.
The argument made by many Americans, namely Republican candidate, Donald Trump and his republican supporters, is that if we let refugees in, we could be opening our country up to possible ISIS intruders who would launch attacks on American soil.
According to an articl written after one of Trump’s rallies in November 2015, Trump believes America is safer shutting down its borders and ignoring the hundreds of thousands of refugees who are desperately seeking asylum from their war-torn country.
"We have no idea who these people are, we are the worst when it comes to paperwork," Trump said in a 2015 rally. "This could be one of the great Trojan horses."
While it is true that individuals who seek to infiltrate the United States could use false documents and the United States suppose slack-handling of paperwork to gain entry, this grand idea of a “Trojan horse,” as the Republican front-runner so eloquently put it back in November, is a fear that is as tangible as the boogey man.
No matter how they come, individuals who seek to launch attacks in the United States will gain entry anyway they can, they won’t just wait to hitch a ride with a mass of refugees. It is not the only way potential attackers could infiltrate the United States; for all we know Mr. Trump, they're already here.
Majority of the terror and ISIS-related attacks launched in the past year have been perpetrated by ISIS supporters who were born, lived and worked in the country they attacked. Only one attacker of the Brussels attacks was born outside the EU, Najim Laachraoui. Laachraoui was born in Morocco, but emigrated with his family to Brussel as a child.
Last December's San Bernardino shooting where 14 people were killed and over 20 injured was carried out by supposed ISIS-supporter Tashfeen Malik, and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook. Malik gained entry into the United States by marrying Farooka and receiving a marriage visa.
Last year’s Paris Terror attacks were also carried out by EU residents, Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Salah Abdeslam, two assailants who already resided within Europe during the time of the attacks. Both Abaaoud and Abdeslam were infact born in Brussels, Belgium.
Meanwhile, as we debate the possibility of a clearly unlikely Trojan Horse, thousands of refugees are risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean sea, deserts and ISIS-ridden countrysides to seek safety from a civil war that has ravaged the already torn middle-east for five years. We are doing little to help provide relief to them.
According to a BBC World news statistics report, more than 3,770 migrants were reported dead while trying to cross the Mediterranean sea in 2015. More than 2.8 million Syrian children have not received a proper education since 2011, a Karam Foundation facts sheet reports. 1-in-5 people in the country of Lebanon is a Syrian refugee, Mercy Corps said.
For me, these statistics are incredibly heart breaking, but they are an honest truth to how bad the situation and life is for a refugee. Many individuals, young and old, are trying to get away from the forces of evil in their country and we are casting them away because of the country they come from and our fears.
The most common argument I hear from individuals in my life opposing the acceptance of refugees is that majority of them are young males of “fighting age,” whatever that means. In actuality, according to the Canadian refugee outreach program, Lifeline Syria, over 75 percent of refugees seeking asylum are women and children, not young Syrian men “of fighting age.”
Countries all over Europe, and our neighbor to the north, Canada, have opened their doors to refugees, and yet the US still has not.
I cannot say with confidence that the aversion to letting in refugees is because of the fear of ISIS intruders exploiting the influx of asylum seekers and our supposed weak spot of neglecting official paperwork.
According to a local group, Spokane Cares, the United States accepts already 50,000-70,000 refugees a year.
To debunk Trump’s claims of the US being neglectful of handling paperwork, all prospective refugees are interviewed and screened thoroughly by the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration before they enter the US.
Instead of relying on this prosperous and fictitious excuse, I offer the societal norm of discrimination against Muslims as the cause to the US’s apprehension.
Since that fateful attack on the Twin Towers in 2001, the United States has been paranoid that another, much larger attack was looming in the future. We taught our people to fear muslims, we taught them to tense when a woman in Hijab on a cell phone passes by.
We have been conditioned to react to this group of humans irrationally, with hatred and fear, but that hatred has cost more lives of refugees than those who died in 9/11. 3,770 refugees to the 2,996 Americans.
As Americans we all still hold the heavy burden of 9/11 with us in our hearts. We mourn those lost and we fear everyday the possibility of losing more Americans, but we should not let that fear stop us from being compassionate.
Our fellow humans need us. They need our support, our time and our unoccupied homes to be able to get away from the violence and the war, and start living their lives again. We as a country are too busy playing the game What If, that we have forgotten our duty as a world leader.
If you would like to learn more about how you can help, Charity Watch has provided a list of charities currently helping provide aide, food and other resources to Syrian refugees.
