Refugees: What about helping our own citizens?

I understand the need to be compassionate about the plight of people having to leave their homeland for political, religious or fear of violence. The issue that we as a country are missing is we have our own plight of people who face issues: homelessness, violence, poverty, lack of access to medical care, etc.

If we have the resources to provide food, clothing, shelter, education and the other resources that will be necessary to the acceptance of up to 5,000 Syrian refugees, surely we could provide the same assistance for our own citizens of the state of Washington.

We have protesters leaving the comforts of their home for and against the influx of Syrian refugees. Where are the activists on behalf of our own “refugees”?

This story was originally published November 23, 2015 at 11:08 AM with the headline "Refugees: What about helping our own citizens?."