The recent barbaric attacks in Paris are horrific and inexcusable. Unfortunately, there is a vocal minority who will misinterpret and use this tragic event to accelerate their misguided attempts to close the U.S. border permanently to everyone not born here. Those who would do so are effectively renouncing one of the key tenets of our country’s founding and ignoring one of the primary contributions to our nation’s success: That of welcoming the immigrant and providing a safe haven for those fleeing the exact types of violence as was perpetrated in Paris.
Refugees, by definition, are innocents who are fleeing persecution and war. In the case of Syrian refugees, they themselves are victims of a war they didn’t want, forced to flee ISIS and other armed actors. They are the victims of terror, fleeing precisely the brutality that innocents in Paris suffered a few weeks ago. Unsupported security fears must not be used to limit or eliminate the welcoming of refugees to Georgia.
What most do not realize is that refugees are the most security-vetted individuals to arrive in the United States. Security screenings are extremely rigorous and involve every national security, intelligence and federal law enforcement agency in the U.S. government, including the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Defense. Being cleared for resettlement includes multiple in-person interviews by trained officials. Even after a refugee’s first year in the U.S., they must undergo another round of checks (at the refugee’s expense) to adjust their status to lawful permanent resident.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of President Jimmy Carter signing the Refugee Act into law. Refugees are a minority of overall immigration to the U.S., but since 198, more than 1.8 million individuals and families facing persecution have found a safe home in America. Today, only 1 percent of refugees globally are resettled each year, leaving 99 percent in desperate limbo in neighboring countries or languishing in refugee camps.
The global statistics are staggering and overwhelming, almost paralyzing, for those of us attempting to alleviate this suffering. But we must remember every one of the current 60 million people in the world who have been forced from their homes are individual human beings with their own personal story of struggle and survival. The only difference between them and us is they have been forced to flee their homes through no fault of their own.
What would we or our families do when faced with the unimaginable terror of persecution? Where would we go for help? Would we want to find a welcoming community to restart our lives? Those who have the ability to help also have the responsibility to help. The U.S. and Georgia have a moral obligation to continue welcoming refugees to our communities.
In addition to primarily being a humanitarian program, refugee resettlement is also an economic investment in our state’s future. Almost 90 percent of adult refugees in Georgia are gainfully employed within six months of arrival. This includes paying property tax, sales tax and the same payroll deductions we all contribute to the greater good. A recent survey by the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute found that refugees were, in fact, more likely to be employed in the medium-term than the American-born population, and refugees and immigrants are well-known for creating jobs by starting their own businesses.
Georgia has had a tremendously successful 35-year history of hospitality towards the world’s most-persecuted people. Refugees are human beings who have persevered and survived the worst atrocities humans do to one another. At the very least, their homes and communities have been taken away. Yet the refugees we are fortunate to have as neighbors have maintained their human dignity and commitment to succeeding despite seemingly insurmountable challenges. Refugees and immigrants are a model of resilience we should all emulate.
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