In wake of the tragic attack on Pulse night club in Orlando, many have been debating tough political issues such as gun violence and perception that this country has on homosexuals. But one particular issue that has confused me is the fact that so many people have brought up the idea that refugees are responsible for attacks such as the recent one in Orlando. With all of the rising tensions from ISIS, it's easy to fear attacks here in our country. But ostracizing an entire religion or group of people is the wrong way to react to our fears. And in an age where everyone can put their opinion out to the public, many have called for different types of action after the events in Orlando. Some maybe not as gracefully as others...
Even presidential candidate, Donald Trump spoke out against Syrian refugees and Muslims in America after the attack. After his tweets about radical Islam and his idea to ban Muslims, he then spoke about his ideas on how the U.S. must "be tough". According to New York Daily News, he even stated that Syrian refugees are “no different than this maniac who did this yesterday.” He then called for the surveillance of mosques in the United States. Now despite the fact that this proposal is completely unconstitutional, it is also ignorant and all together unrelated to the attack in Orlando. Omar Mateen was born in the United States. Whether or not his actions stem from his religion are still being investigated, although his father spoke out and claimed that the attack had nothing to do with his Muslim heritage. After the attack, there was evidence found that Mateen had pledged allegiance to ISIS -- although the radical beliefs that ISIS follows does not represent the beliefs of most Muslim people. From what has been released so far, there is no reason that we should tie the terrorist attack back to Islam, or especially with Muslim refugees.
The Orlando attack has nothing to do with refugees. This one man (who was not even a refugee) does not at all represent the millions of people who have been displaced all around the world.
How does one talk about taking in less refugees when the U.S. has only agreed to accept 10,000? And the process to accept refugees already takes an average of 18-24 months due to how in depth our background and safety checks are. There has not been a single terrorist attack in the U.S. due to a refugee, so why are so many people putting the blame on the people who need our help? Omar Mateen was U.S born. There are more important things to focus on to prevent these types of attacks than banning Muslim immigrants. Let's look for solutions here in our own country rather than creating more problems for displaced persons.
