Turning away desperate refugees is not the American way
As the daughter of immigrants, I believe strongly in the promise of America. I know that we become stronger by taking in the world’s “huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
This isn’t just an ideological hope. Research shows that refugees help us fiscally by paying substantially more in taxes than they receive in benefits. Refugees help us socially by bringing in energetic young people to supplement the workforce. And historically, refugees like Albert Einstein have helped to catapult the United States to the forefront of the world’s scientific community.
We as a nation benefit from accepting refugees. We break our moral promise when we slam our doors in their faces. So Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement that the U.S. will accept fewer refugees next year — capping the number at 30,000, down from 45,000 now — could not come at a worse time. The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees has already announced that 68.5 million people around the world are currently displaced from their homes, the highest number ever recorded. These people are living in trauma-inducing instability.
I have taught in refugee camps in Lebanon, witnessing firsthand the ways in which forced displacement cuts through lives, putting unbearable strain on adults and children alike. I remember learning that my six-year-old refugee students were pathologically scared of fire, because their camp, built of shoddy cloth and wood, had burned to the ground in an electrical fire the previous winter. No child should have to live in such a state of constant fear. By accepting refugees into the United States, we alleviate such fears and allow refugee families to begin to rebuild their lives in a stable environment. Refugees do not pose a danger to us, given the extreme vetting process they go through before arrival here.
When we reject refugees, as this administration is doing, we reject those who make us stronger, and we break our founding promise. Do we no longer wish to be a shining city upon a hill? Our elected officials should not support this administration’s draconian cutting of refugee resettlement number. Rather, Congress should protect resettlement funding and work to ensure the administration recognizes the relationships refugees have with U.S.-based resettlement agencies and family members. This is how we can help to fulfill the promise of America. Thulasi Seshan, Hyde Park