Refugees: Don't be hoodwinked by demagogues

Take Syria out of the argument altogether. Leave its potential for terrorists entering the country out of the equation. What are we left with?

We’re still left with the possibility of terrorists coming from other places: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mexico, numerous countries in Africa, and who knows from where else? In other words, keeping Syrian refugees from being admitted to the United States doesn’t alleviate the danger.

We still admit people all the time, and they come from everywhere. Any one of them could be a terrorist, could come here and set up a sleeper cell. It’s happened before (remember 9/11?), and it could happen again. There are no guarantees. So it makes little sense to make Syrian refugees a bugaboo.

Of course, some politicians would have us believe otherwise. They’re using the Chicken Little argument: One Syrian passport found near a dead terrorist proves a direct correlation. And it also justifies a fear-mongering campaign tantamount to that used to go to war against Iraq.

We’ve been there before. We got hoodwinked by unscrupulous demagogues then, and the Hydra monster is poised to rear its ugly heads again. Maybe this time around we should be a little smarter.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Refugees: Don't be hoodwinked by demagogues."