The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (perhaps better known as ISIS) is a terrorist group based in the Middle East that has been causing mass terror and committing heinous crimes. In American politics, a debate has come up over whether we should let refugees from areas controlled by ISIS—particularly Syria—find freedom and safety here in America. Republicans and Democrats have been battling it out, giving reasons as to why we should or should not help the refugees from Syria.
In general, the Republican party is hesitant to allow refugees into the country, worried that they might be terrorists. Many Democrats believe that allowing refugees into the United States is the only humane thing to do.
I personally identify as a Democrat and generally agree with their politics. However, I can usually see why people take the Republican side as well. In this case, no one wants to bring terrorists into the United States. We have enough people shooting up schools already; We don’t need more people causing mass fear and terrorizing our communities.
However, I am all for helping people. I do not want women, men and children being gunned down in their homes, which are usually considered safe places. Over 250,000 people have died due to terrorism in Syria since 2011. A quarter of a million people have died because of this terrorist organization. I can’t even begin to fathom a quarter of a million people, and all the heinous ways they must have died.
I want to help all of these innocent people living in a war zone, the young kids being bred into terrorism, the five-year-olds who are being handed a grenade by their elders and told to hand them to U.S. soldiers. What kind of people must the members of ISIS be to hand a young child a grenade so they could do their dirty work for them? All of this is absolutely disgusting.
As of Nov. 17, 23 state governors had declined Syrian refugees access to their states. The declining states are Illinois, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maine, Iowa, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Arizona, Indiana, Massachusetts, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Alabama, Texas, Kansas, Georgia, Mississippi and Arkansas. President Obama described the actions taken by these governors as shameful. The majority of the governors in the preceding states are Republican.
I understand why people are saying no to refugees: You want to protect yourself, and you want Americans to handle their own problems before we try to solve others’ problems. But you use this as an objection to helping innocent people, and then you go back to your plush life and don’t give a damn about the homeless, or the violence, or all “our own problems” that are taking place on our streets. I don’t intend to generalize, but we all know how easy it is to not care about what’s not right in front of our faces.
Recently, Canada decided to allow Syrian refugees into their country, and the Canadians have welcomed them with open arms. Justin Trudeau, the current prime minister in Canada, said he planned on getting 25,000 refugees into the country before the end of the year and plans to continue letting them in throughout 2016. To this date, there have been no ISIS-related terrorist attacks in Canada due to refugees.
Over a quarter of a million people are dead because of the cowardly members of ISIS. Women and children need new homes that are not located in a war zone. No, I don’t want to let terrorists into my home. But no, not all Syrians are terrorists. We can’t handle our own problems first, because you know as well as I do that we will never be able to completely solve them, and historically we’ve never fixed our problems before policing the rest of the world. If you’re going to dispute helping people who desperately need assistance, then at least come up with a better argument.
