The Help for Refugees Act of 2015

Imagine living your whole life with the fear of death, not knowing whether you will be
alive the next day, not being able to support your family, being forced to flee your nation by the
hands of your own government and acts of terrorism, and worst of all, dealing with the fact that
most of the world is ignoring the issue and not accepting responsibility. Every day, refugees deal
with these issues and not as much as one thinks is being done about this crisis. Refugees are so
desperate for help that they risk seeking refuge abroad by building handmade boats that are not
reliable and end up with hundreds of boats becoming capsized, causing the deaths of many
innocent lives. Refugees would rather risk drowning at sea instead of staying in their country and
hoping for less war and violence. The fact that refugees would rather choose the risk of drowning
at sea than staying put proves just how horrible conditions are in the nation of origin of these
many refugees. There are approximately 50 million refugees in the world and many refugees
have no place to flee to. The United States should take in 140,000 more refugees through the
Help for Refugees Act of 2015 because it is a humanitarian thing to do, refugees help contribute
to the American business and the economy, and refugees are not being accepted into many other
countries in the world.
As human beings, it is our obligation to help other human beings who are in desperate
need of help. Too many people are living desperate lives and doing whatever is possible in order
to seek freedom away from war and terror; most refugees do not even make it that far and they
need our help now more than ever. In order to understand what refugees are currently going
through in our world, one must first understand that,
A refugee is defined as someone who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for
reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political
opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unstable to or, owing to such fear, is
unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country (About Refugees).

A recent example of why the United States needs to give help to refugees is because of the war in
Syria where the Syrian people are being murdered and attacked by the hands of their own
government called the Assad Regime. Many nations such as Hungary and Romania are avoiding
the action to get involved with the situation in Syria. Something needs to at least be done about
the innocent people who are trying to flee but do not have anywhere to go because they are not
being accepted into many far and neighboring countries. Additionally, too many innocent lives
are in dying need of help from the rest of the world and according to Angalina Sen,
There are more people displaced by violence and conflict on the planet right now than at any
time since World War II. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says the number of
people forcibly displaced, including refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced persons
has now reached over fifty-one million. The worlds refugee population is greater than that of
Spain, South Korea, or Canada (Sen, Angalina).
It has been about seven decades since the last refugee crisis as big as the one now has occurred
and if we are to learn anything from history, then we must learn that ignoring the problem will
not solve anything. The situation only proves to become more of a problem and that is exactly
what occurred right before World War II when there were many Jewish refugees who were trying
to escape from the terror of Nazi Germany and many ports and access from other countries were
closed to them. The exact same thing is happening now where nations such as Hungary and
Romania are building fences along its borders and not allowing desperate seeking refugees to
come into their country. In the early 1930s and 1940s, the refugees right before and during World
War II were being ignored and history is slowly repeating itself. It is our humanitarian duty to
give help and accommodations to refugees in desperate need of help. According to Debra A.
Miller,
The United States has often been called a land of immigrants because of its long history of
admitting large numbers of foreign-born people from around the world. These immigrants helped
to build the country and infused it with rich cultural diversity (Miller, Debra A.).

If the United States really is often referred to as the land of immigrants, then why is the United
States not accepting as many refugees as the U.S. should be? We need to live up to our name and
continue doing what we are famous for, giving innocent people their human rights to freedom
and safety. Not only are refugees in need of help but many, who are already accepted into the
United States, are contributing to our nation as well.
Refugees who come into the United States are contributing to the American business and
economy (Wu, Portia). Before becoming refugees and witnessing the terrors that come along
from becoming one, many refugees have lived ordinary lives and received education in their
country of origin. A majority of refugees in the United States are accused of not contributing to
our nation but saying this statement is anything far from true because,
It is also important to realize that immigrants who come through our humanitarian visa system
fleeing persecution are also some of our greatest entrepreneurs. Take someone like Sergey Brin
his family fled the Soviet Union when he was a young boy. America welcomed Sergey and his
family as refugees, and in return, he went on to co-found Google (Wu, Portia).
By allowing more refugees such as Brin to seek refuge in the United States, more individuals
who have studied subjects such as nursing and business in their country of origin will become a
supporting factor for both our economy and our nation as a whole. Our nation needs more people
such as Sergey Brin who come to our country and contribute everything they can to make the
United States greater than it already is. Similarly, Refugees will help build more businesses in
the United States and contribute to our economy. According to Jason Furman and Danielle Gray,
Immigrants start businesses. According to the Small Business Administration, immigrants are
30 percent more likely to start a business in the United States than non-immigrants, and 18
percent of all small business owners in the United States are Immigrants (Furman, Jason and
Danielle Gray).
If the Help for Refugees Act of 2015 was to get passed, imagine just how many refugees will
come to the United States and make a living by creating businesses either big or small; our
economy would boost and refugees would improve our businesses. According to Rana Foroohar,

The challenges of Germanys decision to take in hundreds of thousands of immigrants are

enormous. But the benefits could be too. Economic growth is essentially productivity combined
with workers when numbers for both are rising steadily, countries prosperthe only way to
achieve better demographics is immigration (Foroohar, Rana).
Germany is currently a perfect example of a nation who is taking responsibility and is essentially
benefiting economically from it. The United States and many other European nations need to
take in more immigrants because it is not only the most humanitarian thing to do but it will also
boost the number of workers in the country and eventually boost productivity, thus increasing the
nations economy. Many refugees are also not being accepted into other countries.
There are too many nations in this world who are not accepting as many refugees as they
should. There is a major refugee crisis that the world has not seen since World War II and there
are still too many countries that are ignoring the crisis and not taking responsibility. According to
Naina Bajekal,
The UK and other European countries say they need to be able to limit the unprecedented flow
of migrants or they risk overwhelming their fragile economies. But an increasingly fractured
E.U. has been unable to come up with a concerted response to what is the biggest refugee crisis
since the end of World War II, with some sixty million people displaced by conflict and grinding
poverty (Bajekal, Naina).
If European nations such as the UK and Hungary are ignoring this huge crisis, then there is no
way for this problem to go away. In order for this crisis to come to an end, nations must first take
responsibility and deal with this alarming crisis at hand before the refugee crisis becomes worse.
Similarly,
There is definitely a battle of values with compassion on one side and fear on the other, says
Antonio Guterres, the U.N. High Commissioner for refugees. But as the E.U. argues where to put
the million-plus expected by years end, he points out that one million Syrians in Lebanon
account for a quarter of that tiny countrys population. The more than 600,000 in Europe so far
this year boost the continents population by less than one percent. Its clear he tells TIME,

that Europe has to get its acts together (Vick, Karl, Naina Bajekal, Simon Shuster, Vivienne
Walt, and Patrick Witty).
Many people do not realize that the reason why many European nations are not accepting many
refugees is not because of economic reasons but because of a fear of something. Many people
fear that their social and domestic environment would be affected but people must understand
that they are not the ones who are dealing with change but the refugees who have no choice but
to assimilate and adjust to society. Furthermore, Hungary is building a wall on its border with
Serbia. Likewise, Bulgaria is raising barriers on its Turkish frontier, and the United Kingdom has
installed taller fences at the Eurotunnel entrance (Gilmore, Scott). Refugees will have nowhere
to go if there are nations who are purposefully going to do whatever it takes to force refugees
away from their country. The United States needs to accept more refugees because refugees will
not have many other places to go; especially now that the majority of Europe is not taking
responsibility, with the exception of Germany who is so far taking in more refugees than any
other nation in the world at the moment. Even though there are so many reasons as to why the
United States should take in more refugees, there are still a vast majority of people who disagree
with that statement.
Although there are reasons the United States should take in more refugees, there are still
many who would argue against the United States taking in more refugees because many
Americans believe that refugees do not contribute anything to the United States and its social
economy and that refugees take away jobs from the American people. Many refugees are being
accused of taking away jobs from Americans because the same thing is being said about
immigrants and many refugees are also being accused of not contributing to the United States
and its economies because many people think that most refugees were not educated and illiterate.
Too many people believe that refugees do not contribute to our nation but,

It is a myth that all refugees are illiterate peasants. The majority that come to the U.S. are
educated middle class people whose education, profession or political opinions have drawn
them to the attention of the authorities and resulted in their persecution. Others are from a broad
cross-section of society, forced to flee from instability or war that does not discriminate between
the educated and uneducated (Refugee Myths and Facts).
Refugees are people just like any other American citizen and when they come to the United
States, they will do whatever it takes to make a living and support themselves and our country.
The only difference between American citizens and refugees is that refugees are people who are
forced to leave their homeland to flee to another country but refugees are still average middle
class people like the majority of the United States. The thought of thinking that refugees do not
contribute to our nation is wrong because many refugees are educated people who will fill
important jobs such as doctors and businessmen and will help the American people. Moreover,
many Americans believe that refugees take away jobs from the American people. This is not true
because, Recent evidence by the U.S. Labor Department say NO to this myth. Refugees are
not provided any special treatment when obtaining employment. They must apply and compete
for jobs the same as any citizen (Indiana State Department of Health). This shows that like
regular American citizens, refugees are treated just the same. There is no special treatment for
obtaining a job and refugees work just as hard as regular American citizens do to try to obtain a
job. Also,
Some studies show migrants create jobs for locals, says Mathias Czaika of the International
Migration Institute at the University of Oxford. An influx of migrants can depress wages, but is
neutral or positive (Mackenzie, Deborah). By allowing in more refugees to come into the
nation, there would be more jobs open for regular U.S. citizens. Refugees are not taking away
jobs like most American citizens are thinking; in fact refugees and immigrants are doing the
opposite by creating more. Despite the fact that many Americans assume that refugees do not

contribute to the United States and that they take away our jobs, it is important to understand that
one should not assume something; especially when it is not true.
Due to the facts that accepting 140,000 more refugees is the most humanitarian thing to
do, refugees help contribute to the American business and economy, and that refugees are not
being accepted into many other countries in the world, the Help for Refugees Act of 2015 should
be passed. At every moment of the day, there are millions of refugees who are in major
predicaments such as having nowhere to go and in desperate need of help from the rest of the
world but not much are being done about it. In order to fix this issue, the United States needs to
continue being the nation of immigrants that it is and actually do something to help out the
innocent lives that are being risked everyday by accepting 140,000 more refugees. How do we
expect this problem to end when the correct action of accepting more refugees is not being
taken?

Works Cited
About Refugees. Immigrant and Refugee Health. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Bajekal, Naina. Europes New Border Crisis. 24 Aug. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Foroohar, Rana. Europes Gamble. 19 Oct. 2015. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
Furman, Jason, and Danielle Gray. Ten Ways Immigrants Help Build and Strengthen Our
Economy. The White House. The White House, 12 July 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Gilmore, Scott. European Refugee Crisis? No. 14 Sept. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Imdiana State Department of Health. ISDH: Myths about Refugees. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Mackenzie, Deborah. Refugees Welcome: The Numbers Add Up. 12 Sept. 2015. Web. 31 Oct.
2015.
Miller, Debra A. Introduction. Immigration .Detroit: Greenhaven/Gale Cengage Learning,
2010. 16. Print.
Refugee Myths and Facts. Refugee Myths and Facts. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Vick, Karl, Naina Bajeckal, Simon Shuster, Vivienne Walt, and Patrick Witty. The Great
Migration (Cover Story). 19 Oct. 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
Sen, Angalina. Five Things To Know on World Refugee Day. 20 June 2014. Web. 21 Oct.
2015.
Wu, Portia. The Economic Benefits of Fixing Our Broken Immigration System(2013). Web. 21
Oct. 2015.