“Dania Amroosh wears a Hello Kitty shirt, tiny heart-shaped earrings and her hair in cute little pigtails. She looks like any other 7-year-old, except for the jagged scars on the bridge of her nose and across her chin. There is much worse beneath her blanket on the third floor of the Kilis State Hospital in southern Turkey. A huge seeping wound on her stomach is closed with an angry grid of stitches. The casts are finally off her broken right leg and right hand, but her fingers are still black and blue and she can barely walk. Her lower body is covered with shrapnel scars. Five months ago, Dania and her family were sitting in their home in Aleppo, Syria, about 60 miles south of here, when a bomb dropped from the sky. Her grandmother, aunt, uncle and two cousins were killed instantly. Another cousin lost his legs. Dania was mangled” (-Changing region, changing lives -The Washington Post). Dania is only one of many refugees fleeing Syria for their lives in hopes to escape the horrific Syrian civil war. Many of them have lost family members to the war, and a countless number seek immediate medical attention. For the U.S. to reject these refugees after they have endured the arduous journey just to reach America is inhumane and unjust. After they reach America, all refugees must undergo an 18-24 month screening process to eliminate the threat of terrorists entering the U.S. as refugees. To reject Syrian refugees would also go against America’s core values, as America has always welcomed immigrants and refugees from around the world. Additionally, European countries have accepted hundreds of thousands of refugees, and by accepting refugees we would make a positive statement to our allies in Europe and in the Middle East.
One of America’s many values is that it has always welcomed people from around the world, which is part of what makes America so unique. To reject Syrian refugees would go against these value completely. Owen Daniels, a researcher for Middle East Peace and an expert on the topic, writes on The Huffington Post about the refugee crisis; “Geography, resources, and a shared commitment against extremism have left the US particularly well-positioned to protect itself against Iraq and Syria's spillover. But this safety does not absolve the US of responsibility to join the international community in assisting refugees. Given the nation's relative safety, its historical legacy as a refugee haven, and its prominent role in shaping the modern Middle East, lawmakers owe the American and Syrian peoples a public discussion that is based in fact. To do otherwise would be unconscionable” (4 Reason the US Should Support the Resettlement of Syrian Refugees -Huffington Post). Daniels states that the U.S. has a “historical legacy as a refugee haven,” so to reject refugees would go against our past actions and our current values that we have projected to the world. The evidence also provides a link (by clicking on the words, ‘historical legacy’) for an article that provides further information on the Syrian refugee crisis and the danger of terrorist entering the U.S. as Syrian refugees.
Many will argue that allowing Syrian refugees into the U.S. will cost lots of money when America is in debt, so we cannot afford to bring them in. Wayne Root writes on The Blaze that, “For a country with over $18 trillion in debt. But that’s just his guesstimate. All government guesstimates are low. Ridiculously low. In 1965 our government estimated Medicare would cost $9 billion per year by 1990. The actual cost by 1990 was $67 billion” (Here’s Where We Should Tell Obama to Send All the Syrian Refugees -The Blaze). This may be true, but Ana Swanson proves that refugees make up the cost to bring them in by have several positive long-lasting effects of the U.S. economy. In her article on The Blaze, she says, “But, in the longer run, refugees appear to play an outsized role in creating new jobs, and even raising the wages of natives. One reason is that refugees appear more likely than other groups to open small businesses. Clemens says this is because, compared with other kinds of immigrants, refugees are less likely to have a job waiting for them in their host country. Other migrants may move countries to take a specific job offer with a company, or to join their family, who may offer them a job. A long list of innovative and important Americans were refugees, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Jerry Yang of Yahoo, and Sergey Brin of Google. Andrew Grove, who fled Hungary at the age of 20, helped build the modern semiconductor industry at Intel, without which your iPhone wouldn't exist” (The big myth about refugees -The Washington Post). She proves that although it is costly to bring in refugees, this is overshadowed by their positive effects on the economy. They create jobs, improve the wages of Natives, and some go on to become important and innovative American figures.
Not only has the U.S. always accepted people from around the world, but the 18-24 month screening process for Syrian refugees entering the U.S. eliminates the threat of terrorists entering the U.S. as refugees. Each refugee must pass multiple screening checkpoints, and are processed by several agencies along the way. Brian Naylor, a writer for NPR, talks about the screening process; “Their first point of a refugee's contact is with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees. The UNHCR refers people to countries based on whether they have any family members there and where resettlement makes the most sense, say U.S. officials. If that's the U.S., then refugees are vetted by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, and the Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security. Fingerprints are taken, biographical information is collected. They are then each individually interviewed by U.S. officials trained to verify that they're bona fide refugees. Refugees from Syria are then subject to additional screening that looks at where they came from and what caused them to flee their home, stories that are checked out. All of this occurs before a refugee is allowed to set foot in the country” (4 Things To Know About The Vetting Process For Syrian Refugees -NPR). This shows the extensive screening process that a refugee must undergo before they are allowed to enter the U.S. It proves that although terrorists might attempt to enter America as refugees, the extensive screening process will remove all potential people that may pose a threat to Americans’ safety. Additionally, Anne Brice talks about the screening process for refugees in her article in the Berkeley News when she says; “‘As a positive political measure, accepting 10,000 Syrians is not sufficient,’ says Jastram. ‘I think it’s completely within the realm of possibility for the U.S. to take at least 100,000 Syrians. It would be a strong statement to our allies in Europe and our friends in the Middle East — the countries who are bearing that burden — by showing them that we’re willing to step up.’...Jastram says that because Syrian refugees have to undergo such extensive security checks for U.S. resettlement — it generally takes 18 to 24 months, and sometimes longer, to be accepted — people who want to cause the U.S. harm wouldn’t enter the country as a refugee. They’d more likely come in on tourist visa or some other temporary visa, she adds” (The case for accepting more, not fewer, Syrian refugees -Berkeley News). Brice explains that terrorists wouldn’t enter the U.S. as a refugee because of the thorough, long screening process. Together, Naylor and Brice prove that Syrian refugees should be allowed to enter the U.S.
On top of these reasons, many refugees are fleeing for their lives from the Syrian war, a war that puts many Syrian civilians in danger. According to BBC, “More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a full-scale civil war” (Syria: The story of the conflict). Additionally, the Justice Project and Aquila Style capture some of the horrors of the war by camera is these pictures;
In these pictures, a small portion of the horrors in Syria are exposed, as photographers capture entire blocks of civilians’ homes completely destroyed. These pictures not only capture some of the horrors many refugees have experienced, but prove that it would be inhumane to reject Syrian refugees seeking to enter the U.S.
Although Syrian refugees may have experienced terrible things in Syria, many people would argue that Syrian refugees could come into the U.S. as terrorists. According to Wayne Root, a writer for The Blaze, “That is the exact reason we cannot allow any Syrian refugees into the United States: 98 out of every 100 may be nice people, but we already know for a fact that many Muslims from war zones are not so nice. Ask the people of France” (Here’s Where We Should Tell Obama to Send All the Syrian Refugees -The Blaze). He proves a valid point that Muslims have proven to be dangerous in the Paris attacks, but according to CNN writer Laura Koran, “Several federal agencies, including the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Department, the National Counterterrorism Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are involved in the process, which Deputy State Department Spokesman Mark Toner recently called, ‘the most stringent security process for anyone entering the United States’” (How do Syrian refugees get into the U.S.? Explaining the process -CNN). This proves that unlike France, the U.S. has an extremely stringent vetting process for Syrian refugees which makes sure that what happened in Paris will not happen in the U.S. Furthermore, Koran explains that each refugee must pass through multiple agencies before entering America, which removes the threat of terrorists entering the U.S. as refugees.
For all of these reasons, Syrian refugees should be permitted to enter the U.S. For America to deny them would be unjust, as the extensive vetting process for refugees entering America eliminates the threat of terrorism. Furthermore, many refugees need psychological and/or immediate medical assistance, so to deny them would be inhumane. Lastly, America has always welcomed people from around the world, including refugees, so to deny them would go against America’s values. To ensure that these values are not violated, Americans must not vote for a president like Donald Trump in the 2016 election, who will deny access to all refugees seeking to enter the U.S. CNN quotes one of his speeches when he says, “‘We cannot let them into this country, period,’ Trump said Monday. ‘Our country has tremendous problems. We can't have another problem’” (Donald Trump: Syrian refugees a ‘Trojan Horse’ -CNN). To vote for him would not only help him edge closer to becoming our 44th president, but close the door further for Syrian refugees seeking refuge from the United States. For the sake of the thousands of Syrian refugees, take refugees into consideration when you vote for our next president, and vote for a candidate who is for accepting Syrian refugees into the U.S.
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