Beyond the UN Summit: Why America Must Welcome Refugees

For over a century, New York’s Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty made the United States a beacon of hope for refugees fleeing persecution and violence. On Monday, the United Nations hosted a Summit for Refugees and Migrants with the end goal of determining how the U.S. and other nations can best respond to the needs of refugees. While the UN summit in New York is an opportunity to address the needs of migrants, our country’s own political leaders, including those from our state, are undermining our nation's traditions of inclusion by invoking fear of immigrants. This is a defining moment in determining who makes up an integral part of our nation. We must remember that the leaders who turn their backs on refugees and migrants betray the same American values they claim to protect.

Since 2011, the number of displaced individuals across the world has risen, due in great part to the Syrian conflict, which has caused millions of men, women, and children to flee their homes. Seeking safety and peace, these refugees have migrated mainly to neighboring countries, but also to Europe and the U.S. Instead of recognizing the perilous situation these individuals face and offering assistance, certain political leaders have capitalized on Islamophobia to turn these victims of violence into an existential threat to our national security. The political climate has been ripe with unfounded accusations towards refugees, including calls for a ban on Syrian refugee admissions to the U.S., based on claims that refugee groups have been infiltrated by terrorist organizations.

This simply isn’t the truth. Each of the 85,000 refugees who will be admitted to the U.S. this year is extensively screened by three federal agencies, in a thorough process that can take up to two years. The historical record also shows that refugees are not a threat: of the 784,000 refugees that have been resettled since September 11th, 2001, only three have been convicted of anything resembling terrorism, two of whom were not plotting to attack the U.S., and one whose plan was barely credible.

Unfortunately, these facts have been conveniently overlooked by politicians seeking to outdo each other in a spectacle of fear stoking, even here in New York state. They are betraying our state’s historical legacy as a bastion of support for the rights of migrants and refugees. One New York state senator has even called for a suspension on accepting Syrian refugees “until there is a clear process in place to fully vet their background and ensure they pose no threat to New York state residents” and another politician has inaccurately claimed that “the United States government is unable to conduct thorough background checks on the refugees.”  

Furthermore, in January of this year, a bill was proposed that would require refugees to register with New York state agencies, forcing them through further onerous security screenings and subjecting them to additional government surveillance. This bill forgets our own dark history with the systematic registration and internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the misguided Bush Administration’s “special registration” of 85,000 immigrants that resulted in not a single terrorism conviction.

We can and must do better. As a state, as a nation, we must reject the politics of fear that would have us treat our neighbors, especially refugees fleeing violence, as enemies. New York State has been a welcoming home for more than 200,000 refugees and asylum seekers, and in the last three years alone has welcomed over 12,000 unaccompanied minors fleeing violence in Central America. These newcomers have unquestionably added to the diversity that makes New York. As Gov. Andrew Cuomo stated, “The day America says, ‘Close the gates, build the wall,’ then I say take down the Statue of Liberty because you’ve gone to a different place.”

With leaders from around the world meeting at the UN in New York this week to discuss the global issue of refugees and migration, the New York Immigration Coalition and American Jewish Committee New York Region (AJC) call on our leaders from New York State and U.S. at large to stop demonizing refugees and engaging in fear mongering. This is the time to think deeply about building a welcoming atmosphere for refugees. Ultimately, we must expand the unique vision of empathy that has made the Empire State such a rich place.

Steve Choi is the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. Michael Schmidt is the director of AJC New York