There are already American politicians willing to surrender to ISIS. The conservative governors of nine states have announced that they don’t want refugees from Syria resettled in their states. The governors of Indiana, Arkansas, Texas, Michigan, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Alabama and Massachusetts all said that those fleeing ISIS should not be allowed to come to their states. Some politicians have suggested that only Christians be allowed to come here.
The refugees are fleeing ISIS. They are the primary victims of ISIS. They are hated by ISIS and persecuted by ISIS. Preventing them from gaining refuge, having them die from exposure are goals of ISIS. Governors interfering with the resettlement of these refugees are reacting just as the terrorists would have them react.
We know that thousands will die if Europe and the United States decide to prevent all Syrian refugees from gaining asylum. The predictable reaction of craven politicians who would let ISIS dictate American refugee policy has a tragic precedent.
In the 1930s the United States prevented the resettlement of Jews fleeing Hitler. Along with vile anti-Semitic rationales, one reason given for the Jewish exclusion was that some of the Jews might, in-fact, be Nazi saboteurs. To prevent the entry of any Nazis, we left thousands to die at their hands.
We should be concerned about security from terrorist attacks. We need to vet any refugees from Syria for terrorist connections. But politicians must not capitalize on Americans justifiable fear of ISIS to generate votes by bending our immigration policies to the will of terrorists.
