Refugees: Aid doesn't mean unrestricted access

Nobody deserves the barbarism being visited upon the Syrians by the Islamic State. Nobody. Conversely, no community needs a Trojan horse in the form of a flood of the most pitiful souls imaginable, albeit easily infiltrated by a few of the most malevolent.

Public hesitancy to throw open the doors to absorb Syrian refugees carte blanche has met with a rebuke of America’s bravery (letter, 11-20) and a bipartisan pushback from Congress.

Reality check: There are no good answers here, just bad and less bad. Bravery is not impulsive, and true charity is blind to race, creed and color.

It seems to me that America could supply aid and comfort to Syrian refugees without allowing them unrestricted access to our cities. I suspect that they are not strangers to refugee camps, most of which are primitive at best. America could provide food, shelter and medical care in an ordered, humane environment.

The only thing forbidden - and enforced - would be to come and go at will. If this sounds like an internment camp, it probably is. But any Syrian refugee who gets a better offer from another country should take it. Or return to Syria.

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Refugees: Aid doesn't mean unrestricted access."