The Obama Administration recently announced that the United States will grant amnesty and permanent residence to 20,000 Syrian refugees.
At first glance, this certainly seems like the humane thing to do. Aren’t these poor souls really down on their luck? Let’s take a closer look.
What will the cost of this kind gesture be, can we afford it, and exactly who will be paying for it?
Consider first the economic cost. We’ll have to get these folks to our shores. Then we’ll have to feed them, house them, cloth them, provide them with medical care, and educate and train to be self-sufficient those of them who are interested in becoming self-sufficient. And what about those who aren’t particularly interested in becoming self-sufficient? Worse still: Our Government has said 20,000 will be admitted. However, according to publicly reported procreation data, 20,000 today will soon be more like 200,000, and that’s assuming we don’t take in any more than the presently stated 20,000.
I don’t know about you, but my wife and I spent more than a small fortune to provide as much for our two children who quickly learned to speak English, were blessed with good health, and were motivated to become self-sufficient and independent as soon as possible—well, at least close to as soon as possible. At least they were not inclined to be supported indefinitely.
So the economic burden of this kindness is going to cost an absolute fortune. But we can afford it, right? We’re the richest nation in the world, right? Why then are we doing less than this for our own, particularly our homeless who would like a better chance at becoming self-sufficient and our military returning home from the likes of Iraq and Afghanistan?
Just the other day, I was hurrying to catch a flight at a major U.S. airport and was stopped cold in my tracks by a large, prominent sign asking for donations because our Government does not fully subsidize the cost of our overseas military calling home to speak to their loved ones. I did a little quick research on Google and found out the situation was not quite as bad as the airport sign made it out to be. There is some degree of subsidy, but it is considerably restricted. Imagine, that our young men and women keeping us out of harm’s way are not provided unlimited free telephone home support by our Government. Why in the world not, if we are able to take on 20,000 highly reproductive refugees?
Then what about those military returning home minus a limb or two, with serious spinal injuries and/or with PTSD and/or other emotional difficulties? Do you think our Government is doing everything possible for them, prompt, first rate hospital care, prompt, first rate medical treatment, state of the art prostheses? Think again. You apparently missed the reports of the scandalous shortcomings in our Veterans Administration over the past several years.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather take every dime we are going to spend on these refugees and instead spend it on our vets.
And let’s not forget the social cost inherent in adopting these refugees. Our veterans have sacrificed mightily for and demonstrated the ultimate loyalty to our country. What about these refugees? Are they prepared to integrate into our society, learn our language, adopt our customs and culture and become loyal, hard-working Americans?
You might want to check out this video recently filmed in Hungary. I don’t speak Hungarian and I can’t attest with certainty about the facts leading up to what is on this video, but it does reasonably appear that a great percentage of these “pour souls” not only want it all, but they want it all on their terms, in accordance with their Sharia law and custom. It seems likely that our act of kindness will not be appreciated or returned in kind. Worse still, what about the small percentage of these refugees who have been raised to hate America and will continue to do so, and to raise their children to do so, no matter what kindness we show them?
Is it difficult to understand why Hungary is showing these folks the door as fast as they can? Is there nothing for us to learn here before it’s too late?
I was taught to be philanthropic, to give back, and I feel for the plight of these homeless refugees, but I was also raised to believe that charity begins at home. And that one good deed deserves another. And that there are no free passes, at least not indefinitely.
What am I missing? And if the answer is I’m not missing anything, then what are our political representatives missing?
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