Should the United States (US) be accepting more refugees? Should priority be placed on refugees who belong to a certain group? For example, a religious or ethnic group.

The world is experiencing the biggest refugee crisis since the 1930s, with over 65 million

refugees in the world. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14 protects refugees, by allowing anyone to seek asylum in another country if experiencing persecution. Since the United States adopted this declaration, they must help refugees. With the current president, caps are being placed on the number of refugees allowed in the country each year, leaving the US contribution minimal causing more turmoil overseas. Article 25 states that everyone has the right to adequate living standards, including food, shelter, clothes, healthcare, etc. However, if you look at refugee camps all over the world, like this one, this human right is violated. Not only do refugee camps lack enough resources, many do not provide education for children, a right protected under Article 26. Refugees’ rights are violated every day, and responsibility of the US and other countries to aid these people, and allow them to escape persecution.

Placing priority on a specific religious/ethnic group of refugees is unnecessary and discriminatory. Also, there is no substantial facts or reasoning as to why a certain religious/ethnic group should have priority over another.

Many people argue there is a security risk with admitting in refugees, considering a majority are coming from areas where terrorist groups are present. However, according to “According to a 2016 study by the libertarian-leaning CATO Institute, of the 154 foreign-born terrorists that committed attacks since 1975, twenty were refugees. Of these attacks, only three proved deadly, and all three took place before 1980, when the Refugee Act created the current screening procedures,” also the chance of being murdered in a terrorist attack caused by a refugee is 1 in 3.64 billion a year (Felter and McBride). Finally, the vetting process to be admitted into the US as a refugee is extremely thorough and a simplified version can be found here.