Just like he infuriated many Hispanics with ineptly expressed views on illegal immigration, Donald J. Trump screwed up the prudent proposal of a temporary ban of refugees from war-torn and terrorism-ridden countries. The refugee crisis is a classic situation of pragmatism balanced against compassion.
To start off, let’s not forget that even Obama paused the refugee program from Iraq for six months in 2011 when it was found that some terrorists had sneaked in as refugees. And we must remember that the Paris attackers had also used faked Syrian passports to get into France. With those two points in mind, here’s a look at the four major problems with the current plan of letting in refugees from Syria and neighboring countries.
Problem #1: Terrorists Coming in as Refugees
Even though Obama assures us that people are screened properly, it’s either a lie or a wishful thinking. Even the FBI director said before the Congress that if a person is not in the US database, the screening process is essentially useless. Obviously, the U.S. does not have dossiers of tens of millions of random Syrians and citizens of neighboring countries. Even the CIA director warned in June 2016 that ISIS is using “refugee streams” to move its operatives to Europe and the US. Again, one can look at Europe where German authorities have made it very clear that terrorists are coming in disguised as refugees.
What’s more, ISIS has gotten hold of passport-printing machines in the city of Raqqa (ISIS capital) in Syria. As an official put it, “ISIS has created a whole industry out of fake passports.” By one estimate last year, one in three Syrian IDs/passports are fake. So do the math with Obama’s 100,000 refugees.
There are also authentic blank European passports sold in the black market to the refugees and terrorists.
There are other passport vendors as well. As explained in this article, the going rate for fake Syrian documents are as follows: $150 – Syrian national ID, $350 – Driver’s License, $1000 – cheap passport, $2000 – authentic passport!

Fake Syrian Driver’s License for $350
So, looking at these evidences alone, one can conclude that inviting refugees from Syria and the Middle East is a very dangerous idea. However, let’s look at the other reasons as well.
Problem #2: Education, Skills and Attitude
As discussed in my previous blog post, most of the refugees (~75%) are young men and a majority of them are illiterate — 7% never went to school(!), 55% didn’t even finish 8th grade in secondary school. Sociology 101 tells us that these young men are prime candidates for violence, crimes, rape, drugs etc., and looking at what’s happening in Europe, we know that to be true. (See my blog post Rapefugees v. Refugees for more details on this).
As for skills, almost none of the refugees will know English and won’t be able to find a job, let alone a good one, for years to come. So, what happens? Just like in Europe, they go on government welfare.
Problem #3: Welfare and Other Costs for American Taxpayers
The initial cost to screen refugees and bring them over alone is about $20,000 per refugee. Then add in the cost for welfare assistance, free health insurance, medical expenses – if they go to the doctor, language schools and so on, it will add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars over a few years. Consider that many Muslim refugees, like this Syrian family in the story, have 4 or 5 children, you can easily see how these families will cost the taxpayers lot more. The conservative estimate of the government is about $64,000 per refugee for the first five years. Of course, this is just the minimal, assuming that the refugee never gets sick or commits crimes or brings in new diseases such as tuberculosis etc. (Yes, TB from refugees has already become a problem in the US). So, do the math for 100,000 refugees, it can easily come to $20 BILLION over a period of five years (which is the high-end cost of Trump’s US-Mexico wall!)
Problem #4: Islamic Extremism, Lack of Assimilation
Even if the refugees are not terrorists, the cultural and social gaps are vast between their countries and western countries, especially if the refugees are illiterate or very poor. These are the people who are used to cultures where people get stoned or beheaded or crucified or burned alive in public; women are covered up in Burqas and treated as second-class citizens; parents (or even brothers) kill their own daughters in “honor killing” if she, for example, has a boyfriend; people are thrown off the top of buildings for being gays and so on. Extreme violence in these societies is more commonplace and more barbaric than we can ever imagine. How these people can be expected to assimilate in the American society is a mystery.

Stoning, women about to be burned alive, and a gay man thrown off a building
It’s not just some remote villages in the Middle East. Radical and barbaric ideas are quite widespread among “moderate” Muslims, including those who live in western countries. There is a shocking amount of support for Sharia Law, suicide bombing, killing those Muslims who leave the religion (“apostates”), stoning wives to death for adultery etc. (See below):
If you have any doubt about the all the challenges, just look at what’s happening in Europe, which has seen a marked reversal in public attitude over the last two years.
Learning From Europe’s Disastrous Refugee/Migrant Policy
Let’s take Germany which welcomed a couple of million of refugees with open arms just a year ago. Today, Germans are turning against refugees and Islam. Here are some results from a recent poll on German attitude towards Muslims, Islam and refugee migration:
– 41% of Germans now want a ban on Muslim immigration; 50% feel threatened by Islam; 50% feel like strangers in their own country. In another poll from May 2016, 60% of Germans felt that Islam has no place in Germany
Similar reversals of attitude are happening in other European countries. In Austria, an anti-immigration politician narrowly lost the election few weeks ago. Britain wants to get out of EU, forced and excessive immigration being the top concern. Hungary built an effective 100-mile fence just to keep migrants out and arrests those who breach the fence. Poland went one step further and has simply refused to accept any more refugees!
There is one more reality that shocks many politically correct media and politicians: mosques – especially those funded by Saudi Arabia – can be significant breeding grounds of extremism and terrorism. Germany is already monitoring and spying on about 90 mosques. (But when Trump suggests the same idea, the elites scream that it’s the end of the world.) Many other European countries are considering ways to stop building of new mosques altogether.
To summarize, a full-fledged revolt in EU is simmering because of the refugee/migrant crisis.
The Reasonable Solution and How Trump Should Frame the Argument
This is what Trump should say: “America always welcomes refugees to its shore based on the needs of the applicants, the impact of such refugees on the American society, and the national security of our nation.
Based on the military intelligence from our own CIA and FBI as well as from the European counterparts, it’s obvious that more often than not, the documentation, identity and the associations of a given refugee cannot be determined accurately. This poses a serious security risk to America. So we need a temporary pause in the refugee program.
Furthermore, the cost to resettle each refugee can be easily as much as $100,000 for a 5-year period – an amount that represents what an average Syrian makes in 50 years. What this means is that our budgeted money will go much further in Syria and help many more people. Rather than helping one child lead a good life in America, we can help 50 children lead a very comfortable life in the Safe Zones. We can also spend the money rebuilding Syria after the war is over.
Right now, we should focus all our efforts and finance in defeating ISIS, Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups in that region. We should co-ordinate with Russia and the Syrian government to quickly end the hostility, and eliminate all the terrorists from both Iraq and Syria. A stable Middle East will allow all those in the refugee camps to quickly return to their homeland and start over their lives.”
Ok, I am not a political speech writer, but you get the idea! Focus on practical solutions to help the refugees, ending of the war and ways to defeat ISIS. Furthermore, the stress is on “temporary ban” and there is no reference to any religion!
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One point about refugees in general:
While I certainly don’t claim to be an expert in international law (oxymoron), my understanding is that a person can claim refugee status if fleeing war or natural disaster. In that case, they are allowed to cross one border. So unless they’re fleeing from Canada or Mexico, they have no business trying to come here.
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