Imagine waking up each morning and wondering if today is your last day on Earth. Imagine sending your children off to school each day and praying that they will return in one piece; that is, if the school is even open. Imagine not feeling safe in your own nation, own town, or even your own home. These feelings were experienced daily by the Syrian refugees as they lived day by day in warfare and unrest. As things get progressively worse for the refugees, staying home is no longer an option. But where can they go?
Let’s start by defining what a refugee is. A refugee is any citizen of a nation who is forced to flee due to persecution or unsafe living conditions. America is a nation built on refugees, for the pilgrims traveled here in an attempt to escape Britain’s rule, arguably labeled as persecution. My dad is a refugee as he was forced to leave his home during the Arab-Israeli war and the ensuing Israeli occupation of Palestine in the late 1960s. One of my best friends is a refugee, whose visa luckily was approved just before things spiraled out of control in Syria. Pilgrims, Palestinians or Syrians, all refugees are forced to leave their lives behind and reluctantly start anew; that is, if they are fortunate enough to be granted the opportunity.
So why let the refugees in? For one, there are plenty of economic benefits. It’s also our moral obligation as a nation with adequate resources and a label as the world’s superpower. But above all, they have no other place to go. We are their only hope; for if we turn them away, they would have to return to the atrocities they fled from and are more likely to be killed for attempting to escape.
Many believe that taking in the refugees will take away American jobs and hurt the economy;
however, that is not at all the case. Studies show that letting in the refugees will actually increase the demand for goods and services, thus improving the economy. Additionally, evidence has shown that people from the Middle Eastern region possess excellent entrepreneurial skills and will help better communities and our national economy. Middle Easterners revitalized previously depressed regions such as the greater Detroit area, Paterson, N.J. and other locations in the past, and likely can do it again if given the chance.
America has always been a selfless nation, yet it has recently become somewhat selfish in making any sort of international or domestic decision. Not only will the refugees benefit us economically, but letting them into the country will also better our reputation as a nation. As a part of the United Nations and a proudly labeled world superpower, it is our duty to help better less-civilized and underdeveloped nations. Nonetheless, as such a supreme nation, we haven’t done much to uphold our standing. Simply stated, we “talk the talk” but we don’t “walk the walk.” We didn’t let the Jewish community into our nation during World War II, leading to their admission into internment camps and the subsequent occupation of Palestine. We were hesitant about helping Russians during the time of the Cold War, fearing the “reds” and communism as a whole. And now, we refuse to help those who aspire to make an honest living in America due to an overriding fear of jihadists and terrorism. Just as all Russians are not communists and all white Christians are not members of the Ku Klux Klan, not all Muslims are terrorists. In fact, the opposite is true as most Muslims are disenfranchised from terrorist groups and regimes. Islam is a religion of peace. Those who associate themselves with ISIS and partake in terrorist acts make up less than .1 percent of Muslims worldwide and arguably are not real people of Islamic faith.
If the roles were reversed, I am certain that Syrians would welcome a large portion of Americans into their nation. America needs to step up as the nation it claims to be. Europe is taking in a large number of refugees, Germany welcoming the most, while the United States is only taking in 8
percent. In the next fiscal year, Germany agreed to let in 800,000 refugees, while the United States only agreed to grant 80,000 visas. This crisis is international, and as an international community, as civilized nations -- as humans, we all must unite and help the refugees fight what we all fear: ISIS, terrorism and war.
Nour, an 18-year-old refugee who settled in my hometown traveled to Sweden his summer after high school to comfort friends who lost more than he did. “I went to Sweden last summer after graduation,” Nour stated, “because a lot of my friends ended up there after losing their parents and siblings. I actually slept in one of the Syrian refugee camps. It was one of the saddest scenes I’ve ever witnessed after the war. You can tell by their faces that they don’t want to be in Sweden.” Nour continued to tell of the horrors that he witnessed during his stay, telling that “most of the refugees were on the ground, sobbing, because they got news from their friends overseas breaking the news of their parents' newly found dead bodies. I met this one little guy, he was about 13 or 14 years old, and he told me ‘Nour you live in America, and in the movies they make a lot of money. Can you take me with you so I can make some money and send it to my parents so they can come and live with me? I really miss my parents, I haven’t seen them in months.’ I instantly teared up and told him that I wish I could, but it’s just not that simple. The saddest part is that he didn’t seem to understand what I said to him. Like he didn’t believe that I really have no power to help him.” Nour had many more powerful stories to tell during his monthlong stay, but said overall that “the whole visit to Sweden was a great experience, the best part of it was
reuniting with my old friends and cousins that I haven’t seen in about five years. If only I was able to take them home with me.”
The most important factor to recognize when discussing this conflict is that we are safe either way. With the intelligence, security and standing the United States holds, we have nothing to fear. To enter the nation, refugees need to undergo a long, extensive process to attain a visa, ranging from 18 months to a number of years. All refugees applying for a visa are subject to Department of Homeland Security background checks, which are in conjunction with nonprofit organizations that further interrogate and aid refugees. In the federal budget, there is a particular allotment of money for humanitarian funds, but nonprofit groups also help fund the refugees as well as the immigration process, providing help for the first three months a refugee comes to this nation. All refugees must apply for jobs and pay their plane ticket cost, meaning that their first few months here are spent working and stabilizing themselves, adjusting to their new lives. Their objective is to make an honest living, grateful for being granted an opportunity to live. An opportunity to live free of oppression, to start anew.
Though individual state governments do not have the right to block the passage of refugees into
their states, the states who choose to turn away the refugees convey a message of distaste for the entire situation, which has political significance in itself. As a country we are split on this issue, and with the upcoming presidential elections, this issue is becoming the center of debates and the political agenda, tampering with election quality and the political process.
When I asked my best friend Fadi about his experience of leaving his home so unexpectedly, at first he had no words. He said it was so hard to recount the experience because it all happened so fast. "I never imagined coming to this country,” he said. “When I pictured my future, I imagined it in Syria, a land that I called my home. I was 15 when things suddenly progressively worsened. Luckily, my family applied for a visa a few years before Assad’s regime was challenged and war broke out everywhere. We left before things got unbearable. I didn’t know what to expect coming here, and I didn’t have much with me: only a small bag with my most important belongings. We settled here near some family, and though teachers were understanding and welcoming, it took a little while to really feel somewhat at home. It was hard for me, hard for my family, and I wish I could go back to my home in Syria. But I am lucky that I got out, that my family is safe, and that I have an opportunity to live while I wouldn’t have had that chance if I stayed in Syria."
It is up to us as observers to help these people in need. It is up to us to spread the message that we have the resources, space, security and intelligence to safely let in a large number of refugees. The refugees fear what we are trying to fight, and I firmly believe that in order to defeat the horrific regimes, we all need to stand together. We can settle this global conflict; but we must start by letting the refugees into our nation and coming together as one. One species united regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or any other dividing factors.
Seton Hall's Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an organization on campus, is hosting a clothing drive on campus until the 14th of December for Syrian refugees in Turkey. If you can find the means to donate anything you can, your donation will directly help make a change in a refugee's life.
We can help solve the problem. It's up to us.
