Tolerating the Intolerant: Why America Must Come to Terms With Itself Over Syrian Refugees

Peter Harris

Politics,

President Obama and advocates for refugees need to work with, not against, those hesitant to welcome people fleeing war zones.

Americans are divided over how to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis. Should the United States accept more of those fleeing the brutal armies of Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State, or are there legitimate security reasons for closing America’s borders? After much feuding, both sides of this debate now seem to be firmly entrenched in their positions, and it is difficult to foresee the capitulation of either. Lacking a national consensus, President Obama seems intent on using his powers to press ahead with accepting more refugees. In the long-term, however, he and his supporters must not shirk from building broad support for a sustainable humanitarian response.

Broadly speaking, opinion polls show that most Americans oppose accepting Syrian refugees out of fear that terrorists will be able to conceal themselves as displaced civilians and thus enter the country bent on doing violence. Such attitudes are mirrored in the words and deeds of elected officials. More than half of U.S. governors have refused to accept refugees from Syria, and candidates for the Republican presidential nomination continue to tout ever more extreme measures to deal with the supposed threat of Islamic terrorists disguising themselves as migrants.

Those advocating that the United States can and should safely accept tens of thousands of Syrian refugees are understandably exasperated by this groundswell of opposition. With proper checks in place, they say, there is no risk of terrorist infiltration. And far from representing the legitimate fears of ordinary citizens, politicians arguing for the denial of sanctuary to people fleeing from warzones are actually the ones responsible for stoking Islamophobia in the first place, using the specter of a Paris-like attack on U.S. soil as a political football and a cynical electoral tactic.