In this post-Paris attack climate, U.S. lawmakers are advocating new legislation to demolish federal programs allowing Syrian refugees into America. As journalist Max Fischer pens for Vox, “their argument is that Syrian refugees pose a greater-than-acceptable threat to national security, and therefore all must be blocked from entering the United States. Here are six points I would ask them to consider in response.”
Among Fisher’s arguments is this one, “Refusing Syrian refugees, or restricting them only to Christians as Ted Cruz and others advocate, is not good for American national security as you claim. Rather, it is bad for national security because it directly aids ISIS, both ideologically and materially, by giving the group evidence that the West is hostile toward Muslims and Syrians.”
Fishcer continues, “ISIS is hurt when Western countries accept refugees because this undermines its propaganda of a war between Islam and the West. ISIS is helped when the West shuts out Syrian refugees because that promotes its propaganda.”
