The Tenuous Link Between Terrorism and Refugees

By John Dickson

There’s just no basis to the claim that terrorists could be hiding in the midst of the refugees coming to this country.   One new study adds context to earlier quantitative data that show that, in fact, refugees are among the least likely to perpetrate any kind of violence.  

Researchers at Wayne State University Medical School investigated the depth of trauma experienced among a group of recent arrivals from the Syrian civil war.  Through interviews and lab samples, they found abnormally high levels of PTSD, stress, anxiety and depression.  These were the survivors in families with stories of exposure to violence, lack of basic amenities such as food, water and shelter, horrific escape journeys, and prolonged stays in the squalor of refugee camps awaiting the results of vetting and eligibility for resettlement.   It defies common sense to hold on to the idea that terrorists wanting to do harm to the U.S. would willing put them through such an ordeal to launch an attack in this country.

The Wayne State study puts a human face on earlier research by the Cato Institute that assesses the visa categories of foreign-born terrorists, either as tourists, immigrants or refugees.  They found that, out of a total population of 3,252,493 refugees admitted between 1975 to 2015, 20 could be classified as terrorists.  Of those only three were involved in a successful attack on U.S. soil, and those three were Cubans, admitted before the Refugee Act of 1980 that created procedures for secure and orderly admissions.  Cato goes further: “The chance of an American being killed in a terrorist attack committed by a refugee was 1 in 3.64 billion a year.”

In the face of such evidence, the public debate still focuses on the dangers of refugee resettlement.  Such false claims lie behind the drastic reduction of refugees resettled in the U.S.  “Some refugees who have been admitted to the United States have posed threats to national security and public safety,” reads the statement on the White House website that accompanied the annual cap of 45,000 refugees allowed.  The procedures in place are actually resulting in arrivals well below half that number at a time when the refugee and displaced persons population is at its highest in modern history, making up almost 1 per cent of the global population, according to the World Peace Index.

Public policy should help focus our limited resources on actual threats to our security, not myths and wild claims that are merely applause lines at political rallies.  Moreover, this is not who we are, turning our backs on those who are suffering the most.  Refugees are the victims of terror, not the perpetrators.