A CNBC article written Wednesday, November 18 demonstrated how many states are opposed to any more middle eastern immigrants, primarily Syrians, arriving in the U.S. The issue is that the states cannot do very much about restricting immigration, because the relocation of the refugees is a federal operation. Included in the article was a map of the United States(shown below) that showed the results of an analysis done by the Big Crunch, (affiliated with CNBC) on which states were open to accepting Syrian refugees and which were opposed. A scant 10 of 50 are not opposed to accepting refugees. (8 state's decisions were pending.) In light of this, the State Department has announced they will keep their plans to accept 10,000 refugees next year.
Today, Thursday Nov. 19, the House may vote on a new act proposed Tuesday by Texan Rep. Michael McCaul. (It is interesting to note that although Texas has 242 Syrian refugees living within it's borders, the state is now opposed to accepting more refugees.) The act is called the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act of 2015, or SAFE for short. If it were approved a Syrian refugee would have to be unanimously approved by the FBI, Homeland Security, and the director of National Intelligence after background checks conducted by all three. All of this has arisen due to the recent terrorist attacks in France.
Just as with any other issue Congress is trying to solve, there are two sides. The conservative side, in the words of Rep. House Speaker Paul Ryan, says it's "Better to be safe than sorry". They are worried a terrorist could easily slip in among our many refugees, and devastate the U.S. like the tragedy in Paris. On the liberal side, the screening process is already incredibly in-depth for refugees- only 1% of the global population of refugees is recommended for resettlement in the U.S. Fear of what may happen can't impede on the potential aid we could be giving to these refugees.
Over the summer I was privileged enough to make the acquaintance of a Syrian woman who had been relocated in Louisville. She spoke of terrible violence and killing, some for no reason other than lack of a better alternative, because the country is so in shambles. It is people like her that felt blessed to be here, but are now surely questioning our government. First saved, and now scorned? Their brothers and parents and friends are still trying to seek asylum here, but now they and their people are distrusted more than ever. Many refugees have great respect for our government- our systems put into place to aid people are very impressive. Now they are seeing another side of the U.S.
So the country is at odds, split between two sides. However, this split appears to be leaning towards the conservative viewpoint. In the mechanics of our government, the state reps will supposedly vote for what they feel reflects the views of their constituents. If the country is preoccupied by fear at this moment, naturally the majority of views will reflect a more fear- driven response; keep out potential threats.
The article on CNBC expected Congress to have quickly voted on the SAFE Act before Thanksgiving. It is still unknown whether the Syrian refugees seeking sanctuary in our country will have our acceptance to be thankful for this year.
Click here to read the article:
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/18/syrian-refugees-opposed-issue-goes-to-congress.html
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