They have no business being here.
Let's just be clear that this argument is a non-starter. Humans are not native to this continent. More historically, the United States was formed in significant part by folks fleeing oppression in Europe. Our borders were filled with folks who desperately needed a better place to go. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," has ever been this nation's
modus operandi. They have as much business being here as anyone else.
And, personally - I am the son of refugees. My parents, as children, were given refuge from the Soviets by this nation.
It's not our job to take in everyone fleeing some world crisis.
Nobody is saying you have to take everyone. Just that you should take some.
There is always a crisis of some sort somewhere.
Yep. And, historically, we're always bringing in some - about three-quarters of a million of them in the past 15 years or so.
There are many surrounding countries that should be taking the Syrian refugees in locally so that they can go home when the crisis is over.
You're not up on the news, are you. The surrounding countries are taking them in - and are swamped. Turkey and Greece can't handle any more. And "when the crisis is over" will be years from now, and it has been going for years already. Those people need someplace to actually make a life, not a tent.
You don't think that they plan things years in advance?
The UN only sends a small percentage of the people our way even to be considered. When you only have a 1% chance to even begin a year's long process, that's not a viable plan. If they do plan years ahead, this would be a bad one.
Or that they would try several different avenues to get into the country?
Exactly, and when *every other avenue* is easier, there's no cause to use this one, which is extra hard.
American Conservatives are often fast to say, "Laws won't stop criminals." Usually this is trotted out about guns, but it fits here, too. Refugee status is for getting in law-abiding folks. Terrorists, who are quite willing and able to break the law, just don't need to wait through the process.
Statistically, accidental deaths from cars dwarfs the number of deaths from even 9/11, so I guess we should just stop security altogether.
Most of the "security" enacted since 9/11 is better termed "security theater" - it is a show, and not terribly effective at stopping bad guys, but good at inconveniencing and putting the freedoms of law abiding citizens at risk. Shall we pull out how effective the TSA is at actually stopping people from getting contraband on planes as an example?
It doesn't matter if someone else is a bigger threat, you still need to take care of the small threats when you can.
A few million Syrians left with no real life are a far larger threat - if yo uare worried about radicals, imagine how radical they'll become left in tent cities in the cold and heat with no prospects for years.