Dear Governor Snyder,
The American response to the Syrian refugee crisis resembles the Jews who sought refuge in our country just before World War II. The overwhelming majority of our nation opposed their immigration. Our fear and hesitation confined European Jews and unknowingly binded them to their Nazi-coordinated deaths. As history tells, our current isolationist views will result in unnecessary grievances.
Americans, like most of our allies, fear the possibility of terrorists masked as asylum seekers. This thought and the memory of 9/11 preoccupies the American mind.
Today, I read your cautious position on refugee immigration for our state printed in Times Magazine. I appreciate your guardianship but I differ with your hesitant actions.
A governor indeed has the legal responsibility to protect the safety of its residents. However, governors do not have the authority to deny refugees’ safe asylum even in these circumstances. Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State reiterated U.S. refugee policy, in that the “decisions are made by the federal government, and the U.S. State Department has a robust system in place to evaluate and place families who seek refugee status."
You question the robustness of this system and its trustworthiness given its expedition. The United States refugee immigration process typically takes an extensive 18 to 24 months and includes intensive background checks by the DHS, intelligence agencies, the State Department, and the FBI. After their lengthy approval, refugees press through “medical screenings, cultural orientation, sponsorship assurances, and referral to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for transportation to the United States."
Meanwhile the reality mounts: one in every 122 people across the globe flees home due to war, terror, or poverty. In four years approximately four million Syrians have been displaced. Half are children. The U.S. has taken around 1,200 refugees, where only 179 Syrians found safety in Michigan this past year.
The European Union stands by its immigration policy despite terrorism. The EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker acknowledged that the Paris attacker from Syria “abused the [refugee] system.” Unlike us, however, the EU will continue fulfilling the moral obligation to aid hundreds of thousands of displaced humans.
Your decision feeds the paranoia of crowds and substantiates an unquenchable hatred towards refugees, Middle Easterners, and Muslims alike.
Mr. Governor, now is not the time “to stop and take a closer look” as you suggested. Now is the time to call upon Federal resources, give Michigan aid to the process, to prepare our state for new comrades, and to expedite our actions. It is your responsibility to pacify the fear by reminding us if real terrorists come, we will undoubtedly find them in the crowds rather than hidden in foreign hills.
I am disappointed that you are not brave enough to defend our Middle Eastern and Muslim communities. Nor were you brave enough to front an alternative and bipartisan response to both security risk and humanitarian need. Your Times Magazine statement embodies an empty diplomatic agenda for these friends, while silently supervising the intensified American phobia and global anti-refugee hysteria.
As an executive leader in a globally influential nation, you have the moral imperative and humanitarian responsibility for more than Michiganders.
Let us be a state that leads for the first time since our economic downturn. With one of the largest Middle Eastern populations, Michigan offers the best resources for refugee assimilation: native Arabic speakers to teach English, multiple mosques to pray, and a community of support.
Mr. Governor, whose side are you on?
I am not asking what side of the political aisle or which country you prioritize. This is clear. I ask: are you on the side of a selective and hierarchical version of humanity or the side that believes all men - or rather all people - are created equal?
You have, in your reactions, chosen the former without a constructive plan to promote the latter.
It is a sad day for Michiganders, for Parisians and Lebanese and Nigerians, but most sad for our displaced brothers and sisters. I beg you to reconsider.
In solidarity with the displaced and in hope of your imminent leadership,
awsully
