The Syrian refugee crisis
Charles Chamberlain
You've probably seen the horrifying images of dead children, fleeing war-torn Syria with their families, hoping for safety and a better life. Refugees are suffering and dying because governments in Europe, as well as our own, won't open their doors to take these families in.
It doesn't have to be this way. The Statue of Liberty exists as a symbol of our nation's commitment to welcome those who are yearning to breathe free to our country. Yet the United States government has said it will only take 8,000 Syrian refugees -- and so far, only 1,541 have arrived. That's not enough. We have to do better.
On Friday, Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley took a stand and said we must do more. He's called on the United States to accept at least 65,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016.
Our country has a history of opening our borders to those fleeing war and oppression. We brought hundreds of thousands of refugees from Southeast Asia here in the 1970s and 1980s. Many refugees from war-torn East Africa now call our country home.
The United States hasn't always been as welcoming as we should be, as we saw last summer with refugees from Central America. Even now, Republicans have already been pushing back against allowing any Syrian refugees at all into our country -- even though they're fleeing a tragic crisis in the Middle East that neoconservative foreign policy helped cause.
In countries like Hungary, Syrian refugees are being harassed by right-wing extremists and housed in terrible conditions in prison camps. European governments are bickering over how to deal with the crisis. It's time for Democratic presidential candidates to stand up and join Martin O'Malley in calling on our government to give many more refugee families a new home here in America.
Thank you for standing up for human rights and justice.
- Charles
Charles Chamberlain, Executive Director
Democracy for America