By Hazel Smith, Stevensville
Many Americans like me have been appalled at the hate speech and misinformation that has been directed towards Syrian refugees. From recent research I did for a program for a United Methodist Women’s group, I learned the following facts which are verifiable at FactCheck.org.
1) 48.2 million people have been displaced from their homes in the past year in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, and N. Africa. This is the largest migration in recorded history, a disaster of Biblical proportions. 3,777 refugees have died trying to reach refuge.
2) 4.3 million Syrians are registered refugees, with another 13.5 million in need of humanitarian aid within Syria itself but unable to flee. Many are starving, reduced to eating grass, insects, and pets. Schools are closed hospitals are bombed, and clean water is scarce. The cease fire for one week to begin soon and brokered by Secy. of State John Kerry with 18 other countries will allow humanitarian aid to be sent in, and might stem the tide of refugees for a time. We can pray that that time be extended and peace talks begun.
3) 92% of the registered refugees are Sunni Muslims. 23,000 Sunnis have been shot and persecuted by Assad forces and ISIS since the war began in 2011 in a campaign of ethnic cleansing. It seems highly unlikely that this group would have terrorist sympathies. Men are confronted by ISIS to either join their armies or be shot. Wouldn’t you flee too, given those choices? The International Rescue Committee has said “Banning these innocent victims of war will not make America any safer.” Paul Jeffery, a United Methodist pastor and photojournalist who greeted refugees flooding into the isle of Lesbos, reported “ISIS wants us to blame and refuse the refugees, thus supporting their narrative that the West is anti-Muslim. Governors who have refused resettlement efforts in their states are acting as dupes for ISIS.”
4) Numbers of refugees to be admitted have been falsely inflated by Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz. The President and Congress have approved 85,000 refugees from all countries for FY 2016. Pres. Obama states that perhaps 10,000 of that number will be Syrian refugees. Many of these have already been vetted and referred by both the U.N. High Commission on Refugees and have undergone rigorous investigation by Homeland Security, the CIA, and the State Dept, the most stringent process in the world. Some 2,290 have already arrived in the U.S. since 2011.
5) The 65,000 Syrian refugees petitioned for by the International Rescue Committee, a 5-star Charity Navigator aid group, represents the percentage recommended by the U.N. Commission on Refugees. That petition has not been approved by Pres. Obama, but is endorsed by World Vision, an evangelical aid organization, Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim aid organizations. Even this amount is a very small number compared to the 1 million or more refugees already received by Germany, Austria, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, countries much smaller in population. Cannot the U.S., the largest, strongest, and most economically stable country in the world and dedicated to human rights, assimilate 10% of the refugees that other countries are taking?
6) 67% of registered refugees are children under 12 and women. These first refugees will come from refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. They will not be drawn from the chaotic groups of men that first descended upon Europe.
The greater Missoula area accepted some 40 Hmong and Belorussian refugees in the 70’s and 80’s who have become well integrated into our communities. While I was employed at Lutheran Social Services of Montana, one of the agencies involved in relocation of refugees, I was able to observe the careful work done to integrate these families by teaching them English, finding jobs and homes, and finding counseling for traumatized children. In 2015, a few Cubans and 6 Iraqis were accepted, all of whom had relatives in the area. “Soft Landings,” a group of mothers seeking to reestablish an Immigration Resettlement Office in Missoula, have received endorsements from the Missoula City and County Commissioners. They are requesting 10 families initially.
Every one of us in this great nation can trace our roots to some immigrant who came to the U.S. to escape persecution or to find a better life. Our country has been strengthened and enriched by the strengths and traditions and skills of many cultures and countries. I am made hopeful by the generous outpouring of humanitarian aid extended to refugees by churches, NGO’s, our government, and by average citizens. May each of us seek the truth by getting our information from many sources, speaking out against hate speech and misinformation, and demanding civility from our political organizations.
Finally, may we all reflect on these Biblical passages: “And you are to love those who are aliens for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” Deut. 10:17
“Share with God’s people who are in need.” Romans 12:13. Jesus said “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matt: 25 35, 40.