Recent Attacks Underscore Need To Rethink Refugee Resettlement



Syrian refugees on their way to EU, Serbia-Croatia borderAssimilating immigrants – even those coming from developed nations – is never easy. But there is clear evidence that the process is crumbling under the weight of mass immigration from nations with low levels of education and cultures drastically different from that of the West. Assimilation is further hampered by external interests, such as the Saudis that spend millions of dollars annually to spread a totalitarian form of Islam among disaffected members of the refugee community here in the U.S.

The past several years have demonstrated that Western refugee policies, intended to protect the innocent, can also harm citizens of host countries.  Western democracies have traditionally sheltered those fleeing persecution. But this good will has occasionally been repaid with aggression and violence.

Global jihadism is making the West a terror target. Terrorists are exploiting refugee and asylum protections to attack the very societies that offer the chance for a peaceful and prosperous life. Clearly, we must do a better job of distinguishing between those fleeing legitimate persecution and those who would kill us.

In the U.S., an Iraqi refugee recently pled guilty to attempting to bomb Texas malls. Twenty-four-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan came to America in 2009 fleeing sectarian violence. Yet he began planning the very type of bloodshed he claimed to be escaping. Several months later, a Somali refugee, attending Ohio State University on a scholarship, drove his car into a campus crowd then stabbed 11 fellow students. In fact, there have been approximately 380 foreign-born individuals convicted of terrorism in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001.

Read the rest of Dan Stein’s op-ed here.

About Author

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Dan is the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)'s President after joining the organization in 1982. He has testified more than 50 times before Congress, and been cited in the media as "America's best-known immigration reformer." Dan has appeared on virtually every significant TV and radio news/talk program in America and, in addition to being a contributing editor to ImmigrationReform.com, has contributed commentaries to a vast number of print media outlets.

8 Comments

  1. avatar

    While it is very true that the number of terrorist attacks is done by a small percentage of the aliens (even the illegal ones or refugees we have admitted) this is the basis of terrorism – Maximum damage by a minimum number of people. The fall of the New York towers was accomplished by less than 10 terrorists. The other attacks that day doubled that number – including the attempt that failed. Terrorist attacks are frequently carried out by single individuals or very small groups.
    How many have gotten through our government’s porous screening?

  2. avatar

    The smart thing to do is leave the refugees there in safe camps……..Since it is the smart thing to do the government will do the opposite and bring them here……

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      This is a pretty basic concept, that Islamic terrorists cannot carry out a terrorist in this country if they aren’t in this country in the first place. But unfortunately, this is a concept that too many in our government are incapable of grasping.

  3. avatar

    We not only have to live with attacks but the constant vigilance to stop them. If it’s a certain group that is behind almost all of them, then that group should be profiled. We need to set up camps in foreign countries because most of these people have no desire to fit in here. They want us to change.