Abigail Clark

ENG 2100
March 7, 2016, 2016
The Crisis of Syria and the Influx of Refugees
In March of 2011, what started out as an act of rebellion by some teenagers turned
into a civil war that would destroy a country. After painting revolutionary symbols on the
side of a school building, the accused teenagers were arrested and tortured, causing prodemocracy protests to erupt throughout the streets of Deraa, Syria. The countrys police force
responded by killing several demonstrators, which sent more protestors to the streets. By July
2011, hundreds of thousands were taking to the streets across the country, (Rodgers,
Gritten, Offer, and Asare). Rodgers et al. go on to quoting the United Nations statistics that
as of June 2013, 90,000 people had been killed, and by August 2015 that number more than
doubled to 250,000. This civil war poses one of the biggest humanitarian conflicts of the 21 st
century, and one must determine whether the morality of allowing refugees access to
American support outweighs the possible threat of invasion from the Islamic State.
Being a global super power and a nation that many look to for guidance, many believe
that America has a moral obligation to welcome as many Syrian refugees as our borders can
handle. President Obama has constructed a plan to welcome 10,000 refugees, which has
drawn severe criticism from both sides of the isle. Ever since the 2015 Paris attacks, the
Guardian reports that a poll of an unstated number of American citizens have identified
terrorism as the top threat to national security. The President has reassured lawmakers and
citizens that the refugee applications and admittance policies will be more strict, however

many fear that Despite the House of Representatives saying they will staunchly vote against
the Presidents bill, President Obama said he is prepared to veto any action stopping the
refugees from entering.
Some propose that by barring refugees from receiving asylum in the United States, we
are assisting the Islamic State in their systematic genocide of the Syrian people. Peter Klein
compares the current situation to one that his father experienced in the 1950s.
The year was 1956, and the Hungarian Revolution was in full swing, driving
hundreds of thousands of refugees like Frigyes, my father, westward for safer and
better lives. They were welcomed by the governments of Canada and the United
States.., (Klein, 2015).
Klein goes on to state that many Americans in the 50s were unwilling to accept displaced
persons, but because of President Eisenhower loosening the immigration laws, Hungarians
escaping the civil war in their country became a possibility. Klein continues by providing
paraphrased dialogue from Islamic State leaders, describing Syrian refugees as the ultimate
traitors, worse than the Western Infidels for abandoning the theocratic regime that the
Islamic State is building, (Klein, 2015).
Others are willing to let refugees in, but with restrictions. Mayor of Roanoke,
Virginia, democrat David Bowers is reminding lawmakers of President Roosevelts decision
to create Japanese internment camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor in the name of national
security, and is encouraging similar strategies for those fleeing Syria. Bowers was quoted
...it appears that the threat of harm to America from ISIS now is just as real and serious as it
was then, during the debate. It is important to point out that this is a bi-partisan issue; there
are some republicans who are in favor of sheltering the displaced people and there are some
democrats refusing to bring them into their state. The statements that Bowers made put him

at odds with the Governor of Virginia, democrat Terry McAuliffe, who has already stated
that Virginia will continue to accept refugees, who must undergo rigorous screening,
(Berman and Weiner, 2015).
Some people are the exact opposite, and are much more wary of the incoming
refugees. After the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks, one of the suspects had a falsified
Syrian passport on his person, showing that he had entered France from Greece. 31 of 50
states are refusing refugees due to this falsification. Texas governor, Greg Abbott, wrote the
President, stating that "American humanitarian compassion could be exploited to expose
Americans to similar deadly danger, (Fantz & Brumfield, 2015). While many governors
share the same sentiments as Abbott, a few are less eloquent in their distain about the
situation. Jim Lynch, a spokesman for John Kasichs office was quoted saying, We are
looking at additional steps Ohio can take to stop the resettlement of [these] refugees, (Fantz
& Brumfield, 2015).
While many state officials are fretting an outcome that may or may not happen,
thousands of men, women, and children are losing their lives. These innocent people are
fleeing the terror that we, as a global force for good, have promised to fight and defend
against. How can we as citizens of a country founded on freedom and built by protecting the
rights of those who are speechless, idly stand by while this humanitarian crisis continues?
Are we, the United States of America, going to be outdone by Germany, who has already
taken in over 100,000 displaced Syrians?
The words on the Statue of Liberty read,

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
If we do not attempt to aid those who are most in need of help, then the foundation and the
principals that this country have been founded on become null and void.

Works Cited
Berman, Mark, and Rachel Weiner. "State, Local Officials Continue Arguing over
Accepting Syrian Refugees." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2015.
Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
Bu, Zhong.CHINESE PRESS. China Daily European Edition, December 4,
2015.
Croucher, Shane. "Migrant Crisis: How Many Refugees Are Countries Actually Taking?"
International Business Times RSS. N.p., 09 Sept. 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Fantz, Ashley, and Ben Brumfield. "Syrian Refugees Not Welcome in 31 U.S. States CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, 19 Nov. 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
KLEIN, PETER. The Globe and Mail (Canada), November 19, 2015 Thursday, COMMENT;
Pg. A20, 724 words.
Obama Calls on Americans to Welcome Syrian Refugees as Latter-day Pilgrims." The
Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 26 Nov. 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Rodgers, Lucy, David Gritten, James Offer, and Patrick Asare. "Syria: The Story of the
Conflict - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., 3 Feb. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.