The Pros And Cons Of Syrian Refugees

Since the initiation of the civil war in Syria six years ago, over twelve million Syrians have been displaced from their homes since 2011 and over six million have fled the country entirely as refugees (Alikhan). As this crisis worsens and the number of displaced people (including refugees and asylum seekers) in the world grows to the astronomically high and never-seen-before level of 63.91 million, many have applied for refugee status in the United States (Beauchamp). This has sparked a debate, primarily between the divided liberal and conservative ideologies, as to how to manage the crisis. Many Republicans claim that accepting refugees presents a threat to national security and we cannot put the US people in danger while Democrats argue

While I concede that it would be unreasonable to assume taking in refugees is entirely risk free, however, the vetting process is intense and very thorough. By far, the United States has one of the most stringent processes for admitting refugees and is doubly as strict for Syrian refugees. In fact, the process is so secure that of the 745,000 refugees who have arrived in American since 9/11, none have been arrested for domestic terrorism charges (Alikhan). Many of those who cite terror attacks as evidence that accepting refugees are dangerous do do unfairly. It is unfair to relate the two. as mentioned earlier, the refugees are the ones fleeing extremist groups, like ISIS—they do not want to have any part of that world or the ideology associated with it (“Refugee Crisis”). The fact of the matter is that terrorist attacks are rare themselves and attacks by refugees even rarer—in fact the number of deaths from refugee terrorists in recent decades is far smaller than that of domestic far-right terrorists, such as Dylan Roof, who has alone killed more Americans than all refugee terrorists combined (Somin). Also, it is important to note that ISIS opposes migration to the west, fearing its people will be influenced by “infidel” liberal values. As a result of the discouragement of such migration, the likelihood that ISIS agents and sympathizers is greatly reduced. ISIS supporters are more likely to stay and fight for their cause in the Middle East as opposed to migrating to the “toxic” West (Somin). Despite the claims of some, the process of accepting refugees into the country is very secure and effective and, thus, the risk of accepted refugees being a danger to national security is minuscule and allows for the conclusion that were few risks associated with accepting