Refugee Crisis | spectrum-newspaper

Why we should do more for the refugee crisis

By Sinead Qiu

A portion of refugee families are given no choice, but to abandon all their things and move to a faraway place. The conflict in their hometown is so influential to the point where they have to move away.

Moving to an unfamiliar place, the refugees feel alone and lost. Integration into society is already difficult enough. Worrying about having enough food to eat and a home to stay in is another story.

The acceptance of refugees has been a controversial topic since I could remember.

Whether they should be allowed into neighbouring countries has been debatable.

Programs like Mercy Corps claim that the civil war occurring in Syria has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis of our time period. Starting in March of 2011, the war has been a long and exhausting one that continues on to this day. Since the outbreak, a whopping 11 million Syrians have become victims of war through death and exile.

Countries should do more for refugees in terms of resettlement programs. At this point, only 70,000 refugees a year are accepted through these organizations to the United States. With that being said, so much more can be done. There’s always more you can do.

It’s both ethically and politically wrong to deny the acceptance of refugees. By not doing anything, we are essentially sitting back and watching adolescents, who live in environments surrounded by conflict, get shaped into hate-filled adults.

The acceptance of refugees could benefit societies in more than a few ways. We first need to get the prejudice of refugees out of the way. The media and modern politics often portray refugees as stereotypical perpetrators of war. In most cases, it’s the polar opposite. Like most individuals, they want to live in a community that’s safe and escape the violence back in their homeland.

First of all, refugees are an economic benefit. A portion of those coming in are well educated and have so much to offer societies not only knowledge-wise, but also culturally. They take over jobs and participate in education systems. In terms of the United States, a higher percentage of foreigners enter the labor force than natives and the rate of unemployment is generally lower too.

Relevant to today, in order to minimize the political power of ISIS, refugees need to be accepted into neighbouring areas. ISIS is recruiting more and more fighters every day. In a way, the existence of refugee camps themselves aid the growth of terrorist organizations. They also assist the national security by joining the fight against the Islamic State as translators and sources.

As Brooklyn Borough President Adams says, the small population of radical Muslims have a huge influence on the future of not only society, but also our children. Thus, something needs to be done to prevent any more violence.

Without refugees, societies would be missing out in terms of money and spirit. In the end, I am a firm believer that the pros of accepting refugees outweigh the cons and that further aid to refugees is beneficial to societies as a whole.