By Aminata Sy, Special Contributor for Refugee-related Issues
Refugees have been a target of both Candidate Trump and now President Trump. The overwhelming majority of refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. are fleeing the horrors of violence in their countries. The Pew Research Center reported that of the 84,995 refugees admitted to the U.S. in 2016, most came from Congo, Syria, Burma, Iraq, and Somalia. Note that violence plagues all of these countries. President Trump has signed an executive order temporarily banning seven Muslim-majority countries from the U.S., including Iraq -- arguing that refugees could be potential terrorists, although evidence points to the contrary. Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst, has found that from 1975 to 2015 no individual from the banned countries has committed a terrorist act on American soil. Nowrasteh adds that “the chance of an American being murdered in a terrorist attack caused by a refugee is 1 in 3.64 billion per year.” Therefore, the notion that refugees increase the chance of terrorism in the U.S. has no merit. Though the courts have temporarily blocked the “travel ban,” the Trump administration plans to issue a revised version --not to mention the harm that this executive order has already done. By turning its back on refugees, the Trump administration is sending a message to the world that America is no longer a welcoming nation to immigrants. Simultaneously, President Trump is turning a blind eye on America’s DNA and the reason behind the country’s greatness. With the exception of Native Americans, Americans or their ancestors all came from other countries. In other words, immigrants, refugees included, have made America the country that the world envies today.
In examining the consequences of the “travel ban,” Iraq deserves special attention. The U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, which contributed to a large part of its refugee crisis. Thus, the U.S. should have empathy for Iraqis in general, particularly for its refugees.
Since the U.S.-led coalition occupied the country in 2003, Iraq has descended into chaos. The George W. Bush administration argued that Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s president at the time, had weapons of mass destruction. As a result, Saddam Hussein was threat to his country, the Middle-East, and the world. The U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime, but the weapons mass of destruction were nowhere to be found. In 2011, President Obama officially ended the Iraq war, pulling out over 100,000 troops from the country. However, by 2014, the Islamic State increased its control of Iraq, which pressured President Obama to deploy about 3, 000 American soldiers back into the country to focus their mission on airstrikes. Without a doubt, the Iraq war has cost the U.S. thousands of lives and billions of dollars, but America should not lose sight of the Iraqis harmed in this decade long endeavor.
The U.S. can still choose empathy over fear for Iraqis whose lives have been either disrupted or forever destroyed in the conflict. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of 2015, more than 4.4 million Iraqis were internally displaced and 264,100 were refugees in foreign countries. UNHCR also reported that the war led to increased cases of sickness among Iraqis, absence or scarcity of clean drinking water, sanitation, and nutrition. Consequently, Iraqis may not regain a sense of normalcy in their lives for decades.
As the debate about refugees and “travel ban” continues to occupy U.S. headlines, President Trump should remember that America’s intervention has created many of the Iraqi refugees he strives to turn away. How can Iraqis reconcile the U.S. invasion of their country with Washington’s ban? If there is one lesson to be learned from the Iraq war it is that America’s decisions abroad matter. America’s decisions can reshape not only countries but regions and ultimately the world. America has been an economic and social success because it has welcomed people from around the world. Banning people from countries like Iraq would be a departure from America’s progress.
Aminata Sy is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, where she studies International Relations with a minor in English and is a Perry World House Student Fellow.
