Syrian Refugees Crisis Research Paper

The Syrian Refugee Crisis A constant debate of whether or not the United States should be admitting more Syrian refugees into the country has been circulating. Syrian refugee lives are just as important as American citizens lives and for this reason, the United States has a responsibility to help. The U.S. is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and can fulfill their responsibility of helping Syrian refugees by providing financial and humanitarian aid. While it may be easier to flee to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt, whom have been hosting Syrian refugees since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, these underdeveloped countries have scarce resources. Resettling Syrian refugees in the U.S. and other wealthy
Currently there are 2,291,900 refugees in Turkey, 1,070,189 in Lebanon, 633,466 in Jordan, 244,527 in Iraq, 123,585 in Egypt and 26,722 in other underdeveloped countries ("Syrian Arab Republic: Humanitarian Snapshot"). The U.S. is considering resettling refugees only from the 22,427 cases of Syrian refugees who made it through UNHCR referrals and are not considering the remaining 4,368,012 Syrian refugees in need of desperate help ("Syrian Arab Republic: Humanitarian Snapshot"). So far only 2,000 Syrian refugees were approved ("Syrian Arab Republic: Humanitarian Snapshot"). Some people oppose increasing the number of refugees for fear that welcoming those in need of desperate help will somehow increase the potential of a terrorist attack. That is not the case, in fact a terrorist would find it easier to gain entry into the U.S. through a visitor visa than to go through such an intensive screening
Thus, they could benefit from the U.S. opening its doors to them. Lebanon specifically has been providing aid for Syrian refugees since 2011, and have welcomed over 1 million refugees because they had allowed them to enter without visas or being residents. But in January of 2015, Lebanon actually ended its open door policy for Syrians because they simply could not continue to take in such high numbers of refugees (“I Just Wanted to be Treated Like a Person”). Now there are renewal fees for residency, and refugees are detained because of their expired documents or lack thereof. (“I Just Wanted to be Treated Like a Person”). Those seeking to renew their residency must find a Lebanese sponsor and pay $200 annually, which most cannot afford because 70% live in poverty make less than 1.90 dollars a day. One refugee called the sponsorship system a “form of slavery” (“I Just Wanted to be Treated Like a Person”). This reinforces the idea that the U.S. and other wealthy countries must further assist by increasing the number of refugees admitted because our economy is stable enough to support them (“I Just Wanted to be Treated Like a