Our opinion/Governor Dalrymple wrong on refugees

The facts show refugee resettlement is not the cause of terrorism

We were all shocked by the senseless terrorist attack in Paris recently. In particular holding people hostage at a rock concert which had nothing to do with politics or religion was abhorrent to many. But before the blood had even dried on the victims, brave social media commenters were making note of France’s gun control laws and calling for closing the border in America to Syrian refugees, using the attack as justification for their political goals before the dust had even settled and we knew exactly what happened.

After initially saying North Dakota doesn’t have any Syrian refugees because there isn’t a Syrian born population to place them in the state, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple joined other Governors in the nation boldly calling for the US to halt refugee resettlement of Syrians. Never mind the fact since 9/11 in America 750,000 refugees have been resettled and not one has been arrested on domestic terrorism charges. Refugees don’t cause terrorism--they escape it.

The slippery slope of religious litmus tests for refugees is not one we want to go down. What if eventually your religion is one of the ones that is disliked by majorities? How long before it happens to Christian refugees? Are Christian refugees incapable of terrorism? Many juxtaposed a poll showing a majority of Americans opposed to accepting Syrian refugees to one from the 1930s showing a majority of Americans opposed to accepting Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler’s regime. What if we had said no then?

A lot of this should be about what kind of America do we want. Of course any and all refugees should have their backgrounds screened and they do. Nobody wants to willingly let people in who could do harm to our country. We are a nation made up of immigrants, we all got here the same way many of them did. A lot of us didn’t flee as bad of situations as they did however. Helping those less fortunate flee war torn situations, a long process in which settlement in America is a last resort, should be what we’re all about. Using an attack to propagate stereotypes and racism should not be what we’re about.

Media reports say one of the masterminds France is looking for in the attacks was a Belgian who fought in Syria and had a fake Syrian passport. Should we ban all Belgian refugees as well? If someone obtains a fake passport and their background appears clean, what more can you do? Perhaps solutions should look at how these passports are obtained and ways to identify fakes rather than banning Syrian refugees. Did we ban Saudi Arabian refugees after 9/11 even though there were Saudi nationals involved in the attacks?

French President Francois Hollande announced this week refugee resettlement would continue in their country despite the attacks vowing that life would get back to normal and the country shouldn’t bow to the attackers. If the country where these attacks happened is still accepting Syrian refugees, why should America ban them? It makes absolutely no sense. Governor Dalrymple joining the other Governors in this call is cowardly. It is a knee jerk reaction to racists, arm chair terror fighters and Fox News enthusiasts who believe terrorist refugees are waiting in the wings to blow up their local stock car race. Wrong again, refugees are the least likely terrorists. And let us not forget the domestic terror and shootings that have been caused by white people going crazy all too often in America lately. But nobody wants to have a serious discussion about that if it involves anything to do with the ease of obtaining the weapons involved in them.

If want to talk serious solutions about ending terrorism, let us remind ourselves that what we have been doing lately hasn’t been working or ended anything. Erroneous air and drone strikes killing innocent civilians doesn’t prevent terrorism, it causes it. Starting more wars won’t end terrorism. How long will we be in Afghanistan? What has it solved? Should we get in a decade long war with Syria or Iran too? What will it solve? What will the cost be? Propagating religious divisions (Christian refugees are ok, Muslim refugees are not) will not end terrorism, it will help cause it. No one is saying we don’t do need to do measure to make sure we are safe. Every refugee who comes into this country in particular those from countries that want to attack us should be screened vigorously. That is a no brainer. But blindly repeating the same mistakes of the past isn’t going to lead to solving anything. We should look at newer, bolder solutions to these issues. Simple Neanderthal reactions spread by fear and racism should be avoided. Governor Dalrymple should be ashamed for joining them.