A stampede of fear
Published November 19, 2015
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Photo by News and Observer[/caption]
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, November 19, 2015.
Gov. Pat McCrory is wrong to join the stampede of fear about Syrian refugees.
There are legitimate security concerns following last week’s terrorist attacks in France. Whatever threat might be posed by refugees is at the bottom of the list. Yet governors, members of Congress, presidential candidates and much of the public suddenly insist, in the shockingly heartless words of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, that not even a single Syrian orphan should be allowed into the United States.
A High Point University poll conducted just before the Paris attacks asked whether North Carolina respondents favored accepting more Syrian refugees into the country. Forty-nine percent said yes, 40 percent said no. That wasn’t a huge endorsement, but it’s safe to say a wave of opposition was unleashed last week.
The question is why, when refugees have not been associated with terrorism in the U.S.
Refugees undergo a long process to arrive in this country. It begins when they apply for refugee status with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees. If they are recommended for resettlement here, U.S. agencies subject them to medical and security screening. It’s not perfect. In 2011, the FBI arrested two Iraqi men who had fought against U.S. troops there and were admitted as refugees. There could be other cases. But it’s the most thorough vetting of anyone seeking to enter the U.S.
A terrorist who wants to come here — one who isn’t home-grown — is much more likely to have a passport from a European country and to seek a student, business or tourist visa for travel to the U.S. Everyone who is so upset about refugees should be more concerned about these other travelers. Yet, no one is demanding we stop business and tourist travel from Europe.
The governor’s office complains it gets no information about refugees, yet resettlement agencies report plenty of information about refugees to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The state knows much less, or nothing, about other foreigners traveling in North Carolina.
Reports say one of the Paris terrorists had a Syrian passport and entered Europe through Greece, posing as a refugee. Even if that’s confirmed, it does not compare to U.S. procedures. Syrian refugees aren’t crossing the Atlantic and flowing into the U.S. in masses.
Only a few dozen have settled in North Carolina since 2011. They may be getting the sense now that they aren’t welcome, that the governor views them as a threat, that they’ve escaped one hostile environment to land in another. That isn’t the image our state should project.
The Syrian civil war has created a vast humanitarian crisis. Twelve million people, most of them children, have been driven from their homes, World Vision reports. Some 4 million are refugees, with most living in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. President Barack Obama pledged that the U.S. would accept 10,000 over the next year, a very modest commitment.
Some opponents of resettlement may be acting out of fear and misinformation, like those who called for banning travelers from West Africa during last year’s Ebola outbreak.
Some may sense a political opportunity, inciting fear for their own benefit. Shame on them.
There is little “security” to be gained by this stance but much to be lost by turning a great nation’s back to desperate people in need.
