Syrian Refugees

Those of you who know me, know that I am not a political moderate.  I am a conservative and I am generally annoyed by those who think they look smart when they criticize both political parties.  It usually means they are failing to take a real position themselves. 

Right now however, I am really irritated by both parties on how they are handling the Syrian refugee crisis.  Both parties are using this issue in ways that are just evil.  I have yet to see a single article from either side that that admits the key to understanding the real crux of this problem.

So here’s the deal.  As far as the US is concerned, there is not one single refugee crisis.  There are two and both sides are avoiding talking about this because there is political hay to be made.  The first refugee problem is the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled to refugee camps or are living in areas adjacent to Syria.  The second problem is the human wave that is invading Europe.  They are related but very different problems.

I’m not even going to get into how these two problems are related except to say that I get it… the refugee camps are not nice places.  They are horrible and people are living in deplorable conditions.  This is causing large numbers of them to figure out ways to get to Europe which causes the problem of the current invasion. 

The thing is, that part of the problem isn’t even on the radar at the moment.  In the US, we are debating about how to resettle 10,000 refugees per year in our country and that is what is being treated as a political game by the Democrats and Republicans.

Republicans:

The Republicans are preying upon xenophobia to stir up the electorate.  They point to the human wave of Muslims flooding unchecked into Europe and connect it to the terrorist attacks in Paris.  On that score, they are actually correct, but then they take it a step farther by attempting to keep out all refugees.  That ignores the process by which a refugee can legally make his/her way to the US.  In order for a refugee to get here, they have to be registered in a UN run camp.  It is a very long process, taking up to 2 years and includes numerous interviews, checks and interrogations.  I’ve spoken to people who have undergone this process and it is meant to be difficult. 

People who pass this vetting process are not even guaranteed to be sent to the US.  They don’t have a choice on where to go but if they have relatives in the US, they have a higher chance of ending up here. 

The bottom line is, this would be a very dumb process for a jihadist to go through in order to gain entry into the US.  There are much easier ways to make entry.  A forged passport and a flight to just about any Central American country gets them into position to walk into the US unchecked.  There is just no reason for a terrorist to sit in a refugee camp for 2 years in hopes that they would not be found out during a background check if they want to kill Americans in America.

Democrats:

The Democrats are quite happy to let the GOP demagogue this issue because they think they can use it to further their false-meme of the “GOP War on Woman.”  Because so many of the refugees are women and children, it is easy to paint opponents of refugee resettlement as cold-hearted white guys.  But that’s not the real reason the Democrats are taking this position.  The “war on women” is just a happy coincidence for them.  No, the reason they don’t want to talk about the real issue is because they don’t want you to notice that what is happening in Europe is very similar to what they have supported happening on the Southern US border.

Here is where the refugee issue gets political.  The Democrats have been trying to legitimize the human wave that has been invading the US for decades.  If they were to point out that the refugees we are trying to resettle here are not part of the unchecked masses that arrive daily in Europe by boat, train and foot, somebody might notice that the two issues are related.  They know they are guilty of allowing unvetted, unchecked and potentially dangerous people into this country.  They are even now trying to make the invasion permanent in spite of all evidence of how that can destroy a culture. 

If the GOP were smart (and I wish they were), they would embrace bringing in refugees from the camps.  They would make a big deal about creating a distinction between those refugees and the ones who are making the trek into Europe.  They wouldn’t even have to forward ideas on how to relieve the pressure on Europe (that would take way too much work and explanation).  All they need to do is compare the Muslin invasion to the invasion we have experienced through our border with Mexico. 

They would have the high moral ground.  We are a moral nation and we have a history of taking in genuine refugees.  We have done it for Vietnamese, Cubans, Somalis and Haitians among others.  We do it when it is clear that those refugees are persecuted and in fear for their lives.  Considering that well over 1 million refugees are in camps in Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Syria, it would seem a pretty small gesture to welcome 10,000 true refugees to our shores.  Do that at the same time we get serious about closing our own borders and enforcing immigration laws. 

In short, reward those who are going about this legally and shut out those who don’t.  Until we get serious about border security, we are very vulnerable to foreign terrorists on our own soil.  The refugee population is not the threat… our own immigration policy should be the focus.

Thanks for the opportunity to rant.