Dear Mr. President,
Today I would like to address your plan that would allow 10,000 Syrian refugees to come into the United States. I’m sure you have heard every side of the argument a thousand times. You have had countless advisers telling you what to do and you have had 31 governors tell you that refugees will not be accepted into their state. Look, I know you want to do the right thing. You want to give people the opportunity to escape the violence of the Middle East and start anew in America. That’s great, and I applaud you for thinking that way.
But the world has changed since our parents and grandparents came to this great country. There is a radical Islamic terrorist group that has more resources and more money than al-Qaeda and the Taliban. This group that we all know as ISIS is the group that you have referred to as “the JV team.” Really? Was it really a JV team that took hundreds of innocent lives in Paris on November 13? If that is the JV team I don’t want to see the varsity squad. There is evidence that one of the alleged attackers came through Greece with a fake Syrian passport posing as a Syrian refugee. Now let me be very clear, I know that 99 percent of the refugees that you wish to let flood our borders will be peaceful, that they will be grateful for the opportunity to start a new life in the United States and will likely never cause any harm to American citizens. But are you really willing to take that risk? Do you really think ISIS isn’t capable of infiltrating the flood of refugees and putting more militants who are eager to carry out attacks in our country?
Mr. Obama, I am not bashing you, in fact I am praising your optimism. I envy how you can continue to view the people in this world after events like the Paris attacks. But unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. Trust me, I wish we did. I wish we could let 10,000 refugees into our country without risking the lives of American citizens. We have a great geographical advantage living in the United States: We are separated from our enemies by vast oceans that make events like the attacks on Paris seem like a world away. But every day our world becomes smaller and smaller. Let’s not make it even smaller by giving our enemies even the slightest advantage in bringing harm and destruction to our country. Will it really be worth it if 9,999 of the refugees are who we think they are and just one of them conspires to carry out any sort of violent attack? I don’t think so. ISIS would relish the opportunity to funnel their militants undetected into our country. All they want is to bring destruction to the United States and will jump at any chance to do so.
After the recent events outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic earlier this week, some people might say, "well what about domestic terrorism? Don't we have to worry about that?". The answer is yes, yes we do. But these different types of terrorism are completely independent of each other. We need different solutions for each. ISIS is also much more dangerous because they are well funded, coordinated and trained killers. Mr. Obama, people will not see you as suffering from a case of the oh so dreaded Islamophobia for saying no to Syrian refugees, they will see a president who is most concerned with protecting American citizens instead of potentially putting their lives at risk to accommodate Syrian nationals. The first priority of the Commander in Chief should be to protect American lives by any means necessary.
Mr. Obama, I admire your optimism about the people of this world, unfortunately I do believe you are underestimating a group that seeks to bring violence and mayhem to our shores. All it takes is one bad apple and then the blood will be on your hands.
