Above, a paramilitary officer picks up the lifeless body of Alan Kurdi from a beach on the Greek island of Kos. Alan drowned when the unstable raft he was riding in along with his mother, father, brother, and several other refugees, capsized off the coast of Turkey as they tried to escape to Greece in 2015. His 5-year-old brother, Ghalib, washed up on the same beach later that day along with the body of his mother. Their Father, Abdullah, survived.
Nearly 4,000 refugees have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while crossing from countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. The majority of the refugees travel from Syria, a country enveloped in a civil war that has killed over 450,000 men, women, and children.
A large raft filled with refugees capsizes off the coast of Lybia as it was bound for Italy. 5 people drowned and 500 were rescued by the Italian Navy.
A Syrian refugee tries to keep his baby out of the water as he gets off a Dinghy after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey.
On Saturday, President Trump banned refugees from 7 countries including Syria, where those men, women, and children fleeing the oppressive Asaad regime by the thousands will be indefinitely barred from entering the United States. The executive order specifically bans refugees seeking entry from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Lybia, Somalia, and Yemen for 90 days.
Trump:: "We don't want them here. We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to let those into our country who will support our country, and love deeply our people."
When asked by the Christian Broadcasting Networks David Brody on Friday as to whether or not he would prioritize Christian refugees, Trump said "yes."
Trump: "Yes. They've been horribly treated. Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible—at least very, very tough to get into the United States? If you were a Muslim, you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible."
This statement is false. There were 37,521 Christian refugees admitted to the U.S in 2016, almost the same as the number of Muslim refugees (38,901).
Religious organizations, world leaders, and Human Rights Groups from around the globe have condemned Trump and his executive action.
"We Strongly condemn this order"
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
"To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength."
-Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau
"'Extreme vetting' is just a euphemism for discriminating against Muslims"
- American Civil Liberties Union
"...Denying entry to people desperate enough to leave their homes, cross oceans in tiny boats, and abandon all their worldly possessions just to find safety will not make our nation safer."
"This ban does not make our country safer. Instead, it serves to stigmatize Muslim refugees and the entire American Muslim community. It will hand a propaganda tool to our enemies who propagate the false notion of an American war on Islam.”
- Council on American-Islamic Relations
"Terrorism doesn't have a nationality; discrimination is not an answer."
- French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault
Over 4.8 million Syrians are now international refugees, with most of them are living in poorly constructed refugee camps in neighboring countries such as Lebanon and Turkey like these children below. The camps are built quickly, are often littered with garbage, and feature small shacks and tents that can barely house the refugees sent to live in them. It is during their time in these camps that some die of illness as they wait to be resettled in countries that are capable of supporting them like Canada, Britain, and the United States.
A Dutch volunteer attempts to comfort a migrant woman just as she arrives on a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos, 2015.
Trump and his high ranking supporters continue to claim that this is not a ban on Muslims and that it is instead a ban on people coming from countries dealing with rising levels of terrorism. Make no mistake, this is about religion. This is a ban on Muslims, and Trump made that very clear when he ordered that the U.S. make Christian refugees the top priority. In addition, former New York Mayor, Rudi Giuliani, said in an interview on Saturday with Fox News that President Trump had specifically asked him about how to legally implement a Muslim ban.
Giuliani: "I'll tell you the whole story. When it was first announced he said 'Muslim ban.' He called me up, he said, 'put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally."
Trump maintains that the purpose of this executive order is to stop "radical Islamic terrorists," from gaining entry into the United States, despite the fact that there have been no fatal terrorist attacks in the United States from any of the seven countries included in his ban. Not one. Further, none of the hijackers who participated in the attacks on September 11, 2001 were from any of the countries listed in the ban. The nations of Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are the countries from which the 9/11 highjackers originated from. It is with those same countries that Trump has several business dealings with, including property and manufacturing.
It is important to understand that fear of refugees that come from majority Muslim countries is largely unfounded, and irrational.
Here are the facts: refugees are not dangerous.
- Syrian refugees are made up of mostly women and children. Of the 15,749 admitted into the U.S. in 2016, 48% were boys and girls under the age of 14. Another 25% were girls over the age of 14. The remaining 27% were males ages 14 and older according to the U.S. Department of State's Refugee Processing Center.
- There have been no fatal terrorist attacks on U.S. soil by immigrants from the seven Muslim-majority countries Trumped banned since 1975.
- 0 Americans have been killed by Syrian refugees.
- The annual chance of an American dying in a terrorist attack committed by a refugee is one in 3.6 billion.
- You are more likely to be killed by a lightning strike than a terrorist attack committed by a refugee.
- Refugees are screened by 8 government agencies including the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department. This process can take 1-2 years and is one of the most strict refugee screening processes in the world.
- Only 10 [unauthorized] immigrants became terrorists, "a minuscule 0.000038 percent of the 26.5 million," who entered the U.S. from 1975 through 2015. Only one of them succeeded in killing an American.
Have you no Humanity?
Thousands of migrants have died while trying to reach countries like Europe and the United States, and thousands more have been killed for staying in their homes in places like Syria. They have nothing to go back to now.
Trump has condemned thousands of helpless and innocent people to continue to live in a hell many Americans wouldn't last a day in. He has changed who we are, what we stand for as a country and, in a matter of days, reduced America's standing in the world even among our allies.His executive order is categorically un-American. It runs counter to everything we stand for as a country. America was founded by and for those seeking safety from persecution, for those seeking a new life where they were free to practice their religion, become educated, and achieve their pursuit of happiness. I would remind you, Mr. Trump, of what is engraved on the statue of Liberty; A message meant for immigrants. A message for those seaking a place like America.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
These people yearn to breathe free.
A refugee reacts to finally reaching the Greek island of Lesbos in September of 2015.
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