Should We Halt the Syrian Refugee Program?

Warning: know I am tipping some apple carts here---

I do not subscribe to the blatant exclusion of a people due to geography - something they had no control over. To me blockading, barricading and tucking tale is an act of cowardice. Greater resolve is demanded and applied through engagement and action.

There are bad apples in every orchard, the cure is not to raze the orchard. We - the military has its similar share of problem children. If we didn't there would be no need for brigs. If appreciation for depravity in morals is needed I recommend a command visit to your local brig. There were murderers and other sorts of trouble makers but I think the worst I encountered was neither. The worst had to be the individual who had molested his mentally disabled and under aged step daughter. Unfortunately his story is not unique. I believe it was last week there was a Chaplain that admitted to and was convicted of possessing/watching child pornography. Bad apples exist everywhere.

If we were to apply this approach across the board there would be many upset people. Would it not upset many folks here if they decided or announced it unwise for any company/corporation to hire vets diagnosed with PTSD? There is negative stigma attached to PTSD, and more so from combat related PTSD. We are less than 1% of the population, few understand our situation and market probably would not feel the exclusion of veterans from their workforce.

I agree they (immigrants) need to be vetted through a process to decrease the likelihood of horrible actions. But there exists the potential to gain legions of allegiance by offering opportunities that never existed to these people. Research has proven that the first and second generation of immigrants tend to be more appreciative and focused in work and school than their counterparts born in country. We have long been a nation of immigrants, exclusion is diametric to the pillars of this nation. The only party gaining through exclusion is ISIS/ISIL/Daesh if it is they who are the only entity willing to accept the displaced, disenchanted and unwanted. In attempting to reduce ISIS/ISIL/Daesh strength we are increasing the potential of their ranks through blind and blatant exclusion. This is a conflict of ideologies and ideologies are not bound or constrained with fences and gates but through layered and active engagement with the basis/foundations of those ideologies.

How can we so callously deny sanctuary and refuge to the women, children, elderly, and yes, the men, of these areas? How can we turn our backs on the families of the very people we are now actively encouraging, equipping, and training to fight terrorists in Syria and Iraq?

These Syrian refugees are not fleeing Syria directly to the United States. They are coming out of the refugee camps – mainly the camps in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. They have left their livelihoods, homes, and properties in fear of the safety of their wives, their daughters, and other loved ones.

By denying entry, what are we asking them to do? To continue to live in the tents and squalor of these refugee camps with no end in sight?

I completely agree on this aspect: We must ensure the safety of our own loved ones at home, and should do everything in our power that none of those who we welcome as strangers into our own communities will harm our families or be a threat to ourselves or our livelihood.

Where is our humanity? Where is our religion? Does our faith, regardless of our individual creed, suggest that we should turn away these people in need, seeking help and hope?

But: if we deny these people refuge, to whom will they turn? Will they be forced to return to their homes, and have to accede to demands of declaring beliefs and alliance with ISIS? Will the children be indoctrinated in hatred toward the west cultures and all “non-believers”?

For shame, for shame. Rather than slamming doors in the refugee faces, we should seek ways to provide hope, while assuring our joint safety and security.

As far as proper vetting before permitting entry, we do have some faith and confidence. Will those seeking refuge from ISIS terrorists not inform the UNHCR and our own national security officials about any in their midst that may be ISIS terrorists? Are they not best placed, during their anxious time in the refugee camps waiting hopefully for emigration, to determine and identify any terrorists among them who espouse radical hatred and lunacy – of those who mean harm to not only those of us who, with the best of intentions, offer them shelter, but also their own hopes of a better life?

Let me just describe France. They have 4.7 million Muslims in a city and towns. This is imperialism through immigration as they insist upon the Muslim institutions instead of French ones.