The recent influx of refugees into America has caused an uproar between liberals and conservatives and is raising the question on national security. However, the way we are treating this crisis regarding refugees, immigrants and other “non-Americans” is detrimental to the health and progression of the United States.
USA Today shared an article announcing that world leaders who gathered at the refugee summit on Tuesday took a pledge to give 4.5 billion dollars in refugee aid and announced that they wanted to try to double the amount of refugee settlement.
According to the article, this new commitment is in effort to cope with the modern refugee crisis that has displaced more people than were displaced during World War II. Due to conflict in Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia, the number of refuges is now at a shocking 65.3 million and rising, according to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees.
The amount of human suffering caused by the refugee crisis needs to be taken into account by liberals and conservatives alike. While I understand the concern over national security, we cannot ignore the need for humanity. Politicians and civilians alike have made dehumanizing comments and assumptions about these displaced peoples.
Somehow we have forgotten that the U.S. was built and founded by immigrants. We have forgotten that our food, clothing and culture were all developed from the contributions of people who were originally non-Americans. So why do we ignore them? Why have we convinced ourselves that these people do not deserve refuge with us after all earlier immigrants have given to our nation? If it were not for immigrants, America would not exist.
The New York Times featured an article reminding America that Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted out an image on Monday night in which he compared refugees to a bowl of Skittles sprinkled with a few “that would kill you.”
Trump, who is a top advisor in his father’s campaign, suggested that our nation accepts refugees with a blind selection process in which he claimed potentially poisonous people could slip through and hurt our country.
According to the article, Trump Jr. received a heavy amount of back lash from social media users who used the iconic, and heartbreaking photo of a 5-year-old boy, Omran Daqneesh, from Aleppo, covered in blood and dirt next to a bowl of Skittles.
Trump’s comparison of blood-covered children to a potentially bad batch of Skittles belittles these people that are so desperate to get somewhere safe. While there are a few evil people that emerge from these Middle-Eastern areas, we are seeming to forget that evil people are everywhere, America included.
According to CNN, President Barack stated, “This crisis is a test of our common humanity. Whether we give into suspicion and fear and build a wall, or whether we see ourselves in one another.”
According to the article, Obama stated that it is “unacceptable” that 4.8 million people displaced from Syria. He emphasized that as a nation, we are not as unified on this issue as we should be.
What drives refugees is desperation—desperation for the safety of their children; for a better future; for treatment that is in the least humane. As long as we ignore the injustice at the heart of the refugee crisis, we will be a country that consistently and constantly fails.
