French president François Hollande announced on Nov. 18 that France will continue to resettle refugees, reports Think Progress.
Over the next two years, Hollande said that France would welcome 30,000 refugees from Syria and Afghanistan, among others. This is even more than his September commitment of 24,000.
[Hollande’s] decision sends a strong message to European countries like Poland which have been less willing to take in refugees and to the growing number of American governors who are attempting to block refugee resettlement in their home states.
The fear that ISIS fighters might pose as refugees to carry out attacks in Europe or the U.S. were stoked by a Syrian passport was found near the body of one of the men involved in the Paris attacks. Greek and Serbian authorities said that it was issued to a Syrian man who registered as a refugee on the Greek island of Leros in October, and later applied for asylum in Serbia.
Many immigration experts and political leaders, however, have cast doubt on the connection between the attackers and the passports. They’ve noted that such humanitarian measures undermine ISIS’ argument that the West is at odds with Muslims.
Hollande noted that it is a “humanitarian duty” to aid the refugees. His decision, even as his nation reels from the attacks in Paris, will hopefully discredit voices both in Europe and in the U.S. who have fed hysteria after the Paris attacks and called for an end to refugee resettlement.
While Hollande is correct that welcoming refugees is a humanitarian duty, the United States has an even deeper obligation to take care of them. U.S. military actions in the Middle East created the political chaos that enabled forces like ISIS to grow. These refugees are fleeing from the disastrous consequences of U.S. foreign policy. Trying to keep them out is not only cold-hearted — it's deeply hypocritical.
If our politicians don’t want to accept the refugees, well, maybe they should stop supporting the wars that create them.
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