What You Should Know When Candidates Talk About Refugees

For the first time in recent history, the global refugee crisis has been at the forefront of the discourse related to a presidential election.

What the United States should be doing to help the more than 65 million people displaced by conflict, especially those fleeing the war in Syria, has been a widely discussed topic throughout the campaign, and was mentioned during both the recent presidential and vice presidential debates.

Normally, the added attention to this massive humanitarian issue would be a welcome development in the refugee resettlement community. However, within the current political landscape, the level of misinformation, combined with dispirited leadership in response to the refugee crisis, is a major cause for concern.

Following the second presidential debate, in which Republican candidate Donald J. Trump said of refugees, “People are coming into our country like we have no idea who they are, where they are from, what their feelings about our country is,” we felt it was necessary to set the record straight on some crucial points.

The United States Has Proudly Resettled Refugees For Decades

The US should be proud of its long legacy of welcoming refugees fleeing conflict and violence. #VPDebate #refugeeswelcome

— HIAS (@HIASrefugees) October 5, 2016

The U.S. has a long, proud tradition of resettling refugees from all over the world, including Syrians fleeing the deadly civil war in their country. The notion of the United States welcoming people who have been forced to leave their entire lives behind simply in search of safety is not a new phenomenon.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," part of a poem (written by HIAS-resettled refugee Emma Lazarus) inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, is known by nearly every American, and up until very recently, the U.S. refugee resettlement program was touted by both Democrats and Republicans alike as a beacon of our democracy.

Refugees Are FLEEING Terror

FACT: #Refugees are screened by @DHSgov, @StateDept, @FBI and the Nat’l Counterterrorism Center before they ever set foot in the US. #debate

— HIAS (@HIASrefugees) October 10, 2016

When Indiana Governor Mike Pence said in the vice presidential debate that, “two Syrian refugees were involved in the attack in Paris,” he perpetuated a falsehood--the Paris attackers were European nationals.

Washington Post reporter Ishaan Tharoor notes in a recent article, “As much as Trump, Pence and other Republican officials invoke Europe's security concerns, the analogy doesn't work…the United States, thousands of miles away, is not victim to this geography and can take in refugees through a much more careful and deliberate process.”

The truth is, the U.S. Refugee Program includes extensive security vetting from five government agencies. Refugees are screened at higher levels than any other entrants to the country, including students and tourists. More importantly, refugees, by definition, are the victims of violence, not its perpetrators. A recent study by the Cato Institute calculated that “the chance of an American being murdered in a terrorist attack caused by a refugee is 1 in 3.64 billion per year.”