Refugee Crisis In America

Through out the world and over the centuries, societies have welcomed frightened, weary strangers, the victims of persecution and violence. This humanitarian tradition of offering sanctuary is often now played on the television screens across the globe as war and large-scale persecution produce millions of refugees and internally displaced persons. At the start of 21st century, protecting refugees means maintaining solidarity with the worlds most threatened, while finding answers tot eh challenges confronting the international system that was created to do just that.

In the final draft I will expand on each of the issues, by looking into more specific examples of both what different European countries are doing policy wise, as well as what the sentiment is among the refugees in the different areas of Europe. To fully be able to understand the conditions the refugees are facing I will be using other scholars ethnography work; One of those works being Katerina Rozakou’s piece regarding the management of refugees in Greece. As a result of that knowledge I will be able to come to an accurate conclusion as to what course of action should be taken in Europe as a whole, to deal with this ongoing

Earlier this week The New York Times issued an account in their Sunday paper discussing the critical topic in regards to America accepting Refugees from the Middle East. The Times honed in on this topic in the column “ U.S Will Accept More Refugees as Crisis Grows”, written by Michael R. Gordon, Alison Smale, and Rick Lyman. The feature begins to discuss the problems that are being raised in the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and families in countries like Syria, Iraq, Somalia, and Bhutan are in danger due to the fact that their countries are facing war. This leads to the people of these countries being forced to leave in order to escape the war and oppression. These people are called Refugees. The problem cultivates as wealthier neighboring countries become reluctant in helping these refugees because of their anti-refuge politics. Refugees are then forced to travel as far away as they can, paying until they can no longer go any further. They are then forced into labor, later leading them to escape in an unsafe and deathly manner across the Mediterranean sea to Europe. This being the cause of the many deaths of men, women, and children across the Middle East as they had hopes of a better life elsewhere.The Washington Post also reflects on this subject in their column, “Refugees in America: Syrian family rebuilds life in the U.S” by Deepti Hajela. Hajela interviews a Syrian family, the Roustom. The father Hassan Al Roustom exclaims,

world’s refugee crisis,” writes Cohen, “with its 65 million people on the move, more than at any

The current world refugee crisis is the worst since World War II with currently over 59.9 million forcibly displaced people, which equivalates to a 40% increase in 3 years. This influx of refugees can be seen as a crisis, many countries are under intense strain trying to taking in the large amounts who are fleeing from danger, with Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt taking in 95% of fleeing Syrian refugees. Turkey taking in the most people with an estimated figure 1.9 million. However, countries in the Persian gulf, closer to Syria, have taken in no refugees. With nowhere to go, 1 in 4 refugees were forced resettle in poor countries such as Ethiopia. Europe has also been under much strain with small facilities for refugees and large numbers affecting the border states such as Italy, Greece and Bulgaria. Germany has resettled over 800 000 refugees, more than the whole of Europe in 2014.

The dilemma regarding the American refugee policy and America’s stance on refugees at this point in time is a challenging topic for many to discuss. Not only is this controversy affecting Americans, it is also hurting refugees in desperate need of our help. America needs to start handling the emerging refugee crisis by first working to remove the stereotype associated with refugees, then the U.S. needs to assess which refugee countries should (if any) actually be banned, and after accomplishing those-- America needs to work to help the countries in need by letting refugees in, and working to help the refugees live happily in their country of origin.

Humanity as a whole is deceived by our governments that in an event of a humanitarian crisis we will take in the refugees and provide a safe and secure environment. At this very moment millions of refuges are fleeing their countries because of a fear of persecution due to religion, race, nationality, political views or membership to a social group. Internationally displaced people, whether they are fleeing their country because of natural disaster or generalized violence, are considered under the 1951 convention as refugees have the right under United Nations law to enter a country of choice seeking asylum. All countries that have signed the United Nations contract have to abide by this law, but in the extreme case countries are denying the basic right of living to a group of persons trying to enter their country.

According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), refugee figures stands at 13 million as of mid-2014. United Nations Relief and Works

A refugee is a person who was forced to leave their country. Whether it be from warfare or natural disaster, their homes are no longer safe to live in, so they need to relocate elsewhere. Once someone sets foot on the journey of becoming a refugee, they become vulnerable and dependent with no sense of what the future will bring. In an attempt to accommodate them, first world countries with the resources necessary to assist these refugees, are struggling to determine whether or not they should step-in and help. Some argue that taking them in could come with excessive consequences, while others believe they could be assets. Although there may be a few consequences, they are outweighed by the benefits and undeniable severity of the situation.

The Syrian Refugee Crisis is one of the worst humanitarian movement since WWII. Since 2011, over 11 million people have been forced to leave their homes due to the civil war that erupted over changes in the government (Fantz). As more refugees leave the country in search of safety, acceptance, and opportunity, pressure is put on the world powers to accept Syrian Refugees into their countries. Europe has received an onslaught of refugees, and now all eyes fall on America. Pressure is building on the U.S. to accept Syrian Refugees, however, with the rise of ISIS, many Americans have become more hesitant to let them in.

Refugees are people that flee; especially: a person who flees to a foreign country or power to flee danger or persecution. An unprecedented 65.3 million people around the world have been forced from their homes. Among them are nearly 21.3 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18.

Since 2011, Syria has been engaged in a Civil War with protestors against the government and members of the extremist group ISIS, and approximately 7.6 million people have been displaced from their homes (usnews.com 2015). As the conflict destroys more homes and livelihoods each year, an increasing number of civilians have been forced to leave Syria and try to find safety elsewhere. Already a contentious issue, the Syrian refugee crisis has awakened tensions, both economic and social as debate erupts over what to do with the refugees.In response to the crisis, while some countries like Germany have pledged to help the refugees, (New Statesman 2015 1) only 2,340 have been admitted. Clearly, more needs to be done in order to help the refugees. Although there are economic and population concerns to be considered, the humanitarian conflict that faces the refugees and solutions already available are reason enough for Europe to increase the numbers of Syrian refugees allowed in.

This issue was chosen due to its scope. The Syrian refugee crisis is among a list of issues that will not only shape the world in 2016 but also dominate news outlets in upcoming years. Because of the despairing situation, many governments are struggling to find ways to handle the rush of individuals seeking asylum, for the fact that it seems the crisis is worsening. In addition, the media coverage on the topic sparked my interest and led me to research information because I had no idea what was occurring and the detriment of the issue.

Refugees have been an issue for the international community as they have fled to many countries around the world, such as Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan (Almontaser & Baumann, 2017). The definition of refugees is people who are forced to leave their home country because of war race, religion, nationality political or persecution (Beumar, 2009). In particular, after the civil war in Syria the number of refugees is rising rapidly; more than 4.8 million Syrians fled to abroad since 2011 (UNHCR, 2016 cited in Almontaser & Baumann, 2017). For host nations, the influx of refugees has caused some negative effect on security and economy. Some people claim that refugees are not a major reason of security problems and refugees can bring labour forces to the host nation and increase government tax revenue. Although many people argue that refugees have several benefits to host nations, refugees continue to have negative effects on host nations including the increase of security problems and government spending.

The continuous conflict and seemingly unending civil war in Syria has made the refugee settlement mission a difficult task. The persistent state of fear has given rise to security controls across the border, and the incessant displacement of people from Syria has increased vulnerability amongst refugees seeking asylum. The number of refugees has grown steadily and has reached a disturbing number of 235,000 according to UNHCR. In addition, many immigrants remain unregistered and vulnerable in the neighbouring regions simply because the countries hosting them are also incapable to make available adequate resources due to economic constraints. Turkey, due to its financial status, has been able to cope positively with the 80,000 refugees in the country. Iraq is trying to cope with the incursion of immigrants into the country, fearing a reaction from al Qaeda who might use the refugee issue to settle in Iraq. Iraq has taken in only about 16,000 refugees so far, according to the United Nations. On the other hand, Lebanon is hosting about 100,000 refugees and in spite of the latest conflict in the country; the number of immigrants crossing over has not decreased. In fact, it has steadily increased.