By Chantal Berman
On Thursday, Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) voted in support of the “American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act” – an effort to indefinitely halt all resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees to the United States.
We have all been shocked and outraged by the terrible attacks in Paris and Beirut last week. The so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS) currently occupying large parts of Syria and Iraq is a real and present threat to international security.
But we can’t allow fear and grief to cloud our judgment when it comes to smart solutions for global problems. This legislation is harmful to our town and it is counterproductive towards the overall goal of defeating ISIS.
In a press release, Congressman Frelinghuysen wrote that Syrian and Iraqi refugees pose a security threat to Americans, and that no refugees should be resettled “until we can be sure that the Obama Administration has installed a robust screening process.”
Does this justification hold water? All refugee applicants to the United States already go through 18-24 months of intense security screening coordinated by the United Nations refugee agency and the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
“The very Syrians and Iraqis who will suffer from this policy are our allies.”
Since 2001, 745,000 refugees (100,000 of them from Iraqi) have been resettled in the U.S., and only two of them have been arrested on terrorism charges. This makes refugees less likely to commit violent crimes than any other demographic group of Americans. The system in place is already keeping us safe.
But this legislation is not just unnecessary – it is actively harmful for U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. The very Syrians and Iraqis who will suffer from this policy are our allies. They hate the Islamic State more than we do; that’s why they are risking their lives in order to leave it.
By allowing refugees from ISIS to build a new life in the U.S., we are actively decreasing the potential pool of ISIS recruits. And more broadly, when it comes to “winning the hearts and minds” of citizens in the Arab and Muslim world, this legislation brings us backwards.
It tells ordinary Syrians and Iraqis who share our goal of a safe and prosperous Middle East that we are indifferent to their suffering. It makes our talk of democracy and security for the region sound cheap. And this has real consequences when it comes to cooperation in service of our most important foreign policy goals – defeating ISIS and other terrorist organizations, stopping nuclear proliferation, and ending the ongoing bloodshed in Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Libya.
I first had the opportunity to spend time in Syria in 2007, as a student of Arabic and Middle East politics at the University of Damascus. My neighbors in Damascus reminded me in many ways of the Morristown where I grew up – diverse, tolerant, warm, and really obsessed with soccer.
Our town should welcome Syrians and Iraqis as our neighbors. Rejecting refugees because of the actions of a few outlaws who happen to share their faith does not represent the values of our community. As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving – a holiday about live-saving aid to refugees of religious persecution – let’s make sure we can offer today’s refugees that same generosity.
Please call our Congressman and ask him to reconsider his position.
You can reach the Congressman’s office in Morristown at (973) 984-0711, and in Washington D.C. at (202) 225-5034.
Chantal Berman, a Morristown native, is a PhD candidate in Politics at Princeton University, where she researches contemporary politics in the Middle East and North Africa. She has lived and worked previously in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Morocco, and just returned from Tunisia. Chantal has written about refugee policy in the Middle East for the Brookings Institution, the Middle East Institute, and the Costs of War Project.
Chantal is right and Rodney should use his brain instead of turning his back on those who need us most.
Does the contributor currently reside in Morristown? Or perhaps Princeton?
Excellent points, Chantal, but Rodney Frelinghuysen will NEVER go against the Republican Party line.
After WW1 the west turned the germans into a desperate people. The result was Hitler and WW2. If our actions or inactions allow or cause peoples to become desperate or we do not help the peoples who are already desperate many of them will open the only door that is left to them in order to be fed. The risk of not helping, not offering Asylum is a far greater threat to security to the world and to us then helping and giving them a better life.