I was within a mile away from the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15th, 2013. The streets were chaotic and everyone was running away from the scene scared and unaware of what took place. Terrorism is real to me and present in my everyday lifestyle in Boston. I live in a big city where terrorists look to when planning an attack. After seeing some of my closest friend's parents with limbs removed from their body, the issue of terrorism is something I drastically care about and pay a lot of attention to. You might not think of Italians or Syrian refugees as enemies or terrorists to the United States, but Italians were during the early 20th century and Syrians are being demonized today. Italians became a vital component of the organized labor supply in America. They comprised a large segment of the following three labor forces: mining, textiles, and clothing manufacturing. This did not last long because they were frowned upon and even sent to internment camps because of their terrorist attack on Wall Street and joining of the Axis Powers in World War 2. As time elapsed they are now treated as an American. In comparison, the Syrians are new to coming into America and with the recent news on terrorism Syrians are demonized. Nowadays, Syria has been going through a violent civil war leaving millions of families and single men without a place to live. Therefore, Italians and Syrians were treated similarly when first immigrating into America because they were both negatively treated by the American people and government. The problem here is that the federal government believes Syrian refugees are a threat to security. The question that needs to be answered is what should we do with Syrian refugees after looking back on what we did with the Italians and if we should trust our Immigration policy?

Many people in America believe Italians were never looked down upon in the United States, but they were during the early 20th century for a descent amount of time. First, in this YouTube clip called, "Italian Immigration to America", over 600,000 Italians were seen as "aliens" in America to the federal and over 3,000 Italians were arrested and sent to jail just because they were Italian (DoNtStOpBeLiEvInG627). The reason why they were seen as "aliens" in the United States was because anarchists blew up a building in Wall Street and that Mussolini joined Hitler and the Axis powers. The Wall Street Bombing occurred on September 16th, 1920 when a wagon full of 500 pounds of dynamite exploded outside of J.P Morgan Banks's Headquarters and killed thirty-eight people died instantly from the attack (Andrews). The federal government wanted to make sure nothing else violent could happen on U.S. soil, so they decided to arrest them and make them all live in the same place to keep control of them. Not only were the Italians sent to jail, but they were also sent to internment camps and stripped from their personal freedoms. 

In "WW2: Italian-Americans Internment as Alien Enemies", Giuseppina Wright explains what freedoms Italians were stripped from in the early 20th century. Wright explains how Italian immigrants were treated during World War 2. In this article, the author gives us multiple examples of what types of things the federal government of the United States did to them. For example, the Italian portion of the country was taken into custody after Mussolini's decision. This caused families to be separated and the loss of livelihood for Italians in America. In addition to being arrested, they had travel restrictions and strict curfews that were enforced at night by the federal government (Wright). Since the curfews made Italian businesses have to close down early, many Italians lost their jobs and were instantly struck with poverty because they were not allowed to do anything. Another restriction they had is that all Italians were forced to hand over their cellphones and cameras to the military (Wright). This was to make sure the Italians were not planning to sabotage the United States. Lastly, Wright explains that Italians in the western portion of the United States were sent to internment camps because they were considered to be in a warzone. The internment camps were scattered all across the U.S. So, Wright's article explains how Italians were treated as inferior and were stripped of their freedoms. Just like how the Italians were treated poorly in the early 20th century, Syrians were also demonized when coming to the United States.

For those who do not know the Syrian refugee crisis, this paragraph will briefly explain what is going on in Syria to give you background information on the topic. In "What You Should Know About the Syrian Refugee Controversy", Joe Carter explains the civil war taking place in Syria.  First, a refugee is a person who has left his country of nationality or residence and who is unable to return due to a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, and membership in a particular social group, or political opinion (Carter 1). Syrians have been fleeing their country due to a long-term civil war between the country's Sunni majority and President Assad's Shia Alawite sect because of Assad's violent actions towards the Sunnis. More than half of Syria's pre-crisis-population, 11 million people have been displaced due to the war, and about 4 million people have fled to other countries to escape the violence (Carter 1). Despite Syria being in a civil war, governors of the United States believe Syrian refugees should not be allowed in the United States. 

Syrians are being demonized in the United States because of the threat of terrorism today. In "Syrian Refugees Not Welcome in 31 U.S. States", Ashley Fantz and Ben Brumfield prove why Syrians should not be welcome in the United States. Thirty-one governors believe that Syrian refugees should not be allowed in this country. They believe this because the refugees are a threat to homeland security. The refugees are a threat to our homeland security because of what happened in Paris. Members of ISIS pretended to be Syrian refugees and snuck into France and committed such violent attacks on France's largest city killing over 130 people (Fantz). All it takes is for one mistake in our immigration policy to allow for a member of ISIS to come into the United States and do the same thing that happened in Paris. Also, the recent attack on Brussels's airport and subway station sparked the debate on whether or not Syrian refugees that are Muslim should be allowed in this country. Belgium has the highest rate of allowing Syrian refugees into their country, and in the past months Belgium has been in war against ISIS in their homeland (Fox News). Despite these facts on how Syrians are treated negatively in the United States, Syrian refugees in America have their own point of view on how they are treated.

 Faez al Sharaa, a Syrian refugee, came to the United States in the spring of 2013 with his family to escape the violence in Syria. In the article, " Syrian Refugees in the U.S. Feel a Backlash", Faez al Sharaa says, "the refugees have become scapegoats" (Altman). He believes the federal government puts the blame on all Syrian refugees for the violence happening around the world when in reality they are just trying to escape the violence in their home country. He says the refugees have become "targets" of the United States federal government (Altman).  When he first came to America, his neighbors were welcoming, but with the recent stereotypes and news on the refugees he has become racially profiled and nervous that the government is going to send him back to Syria. Faez has been stunned by the response. "It shocked me, because America prides itself on diversity. It is a melting pot," he says. "Some are misinformed, or not informed, by what is going on in Syria"(Altman). The threat of terrorism is not the only reason why others believe Syrian refugees should not be allowed in this country.

The process of allowing a Syrian refugee in this country is extremely expensive.  When refugees come to America, they have no working experience, do not speak the language, and have no source of money (Root). So, if they enter the United States they are going to need the government's assistance on living. They will not be able to find a job right away because most of them will have to take a couple years to learn English so they can start applying for a job. According to Wayne Root, 91% of recent Muslim immigrants are on food stamps, 73% of them are on Medicaid, and 70% of them are on cash welfare. Where do you think this money comes from to pay those in need? Taxes will have to be increased, which will make more people in return mad. These numbers are shockingly surprising and prove that allowing these refugees into the United States would put the country more in debt. In addition to the Syrian refugees economically hurting the United States, the homeless will also be extremely affected by allowing Syrian refugees into the country. There are thousands of homeless veterans in America waiting to be aided by the government (Root). If Syrian refugees are allowed in America they will take up the places veterans and other homeless Americans could be staying at. Even though refugees cost a lot of money, the main concern is our homeland security in the United Sates.

The main problem within both of these groups is about our security in the United States. All the federal government cares about is keeping our country free of a terrorist attack on our home soil. The question is how are they going to do that in the most humanely way possible without racially profiling specific groups? For the Italian immigrants, they were placed in internment camps and stripped of their freedoms. This was not humane, but the federal government back then was different than the government today. Nowadays, the government does not want to allow any more Syrian refugees into the country because they are scared that ISIS will sneak in with them. This is not right. Syrians in Syria have little or no food to eat, lost their homes, and are even being killed by their own government. The United States call themselves the "melting pot" of the world, but if we do not let these Syrians in can we call ourselves that anymore?

The immigration policy in the United States is long and productive in not allowing terrorists into the country. According to the US State Department, the wait time for processing an asylum is a year to 18 months. This is probably the least effective way for a terrorist to sneak into the United States because they would not want to wait that long to bring violence upon our country. In addition to this, after refugees are considered for resettlement in the United States, homeland security has multiple checks in order to ensure they are not dangerous. First, refugee applicants of all nationalities are subject to rigorous biographic and biometric screening. These procedures and partnerships have been substantially enhanced over time since the launch of large-scale Iraqi refugee resettlement in 2007 (Department of Homeland Security). Secondly, refugee applicants meeting certain criteria are subject to Security Advisory Opinions (SAOs), including law enforcement and intelligence communities' checks. SAO checks are run on applicants who meet these criteria and are between the ages of 16 to 50. Refugee applicants are subject to a third biographic check referred to as the Interagency Check (IAC); the IAC consists of screening biographic data against a broader range of intelligence community holdings (Department of Homeland Security). Lastly, for those cases with potential national security concerns, USCIS conducts open source and classified research on the facts presented in the refugee claim and synthesizes an evaluation for use by the interviewing officer. This information provides case specific context relating to country conditions and regional activity and is used by the interviewing officer to develop lines of inquiry related to the applicant's eligibility and credibility (Department of Homeland Security). The process for allowing refugees, especially Syrian refugees with the recent news about them, is extremely enhanced since it was first made in order to catch all criminals coming into the United States. These security checks take years in order to ensure that they have made no mistakes. Many people in the United States believe that the refugee and immigration policy is weak, but it is one of the strongest ones in the world.

Within the Italians and the Syrian refugees, we are seeing a comparison in the way the Italians were treated in the early 20th century to the way Syrians are being treated today. The main question after describing the way these two distinct groups of people were treated in the United States is whether or not the federal government trusts their immigration policy enough to ensure that no terrorists will come into the country. "The process is thorough and extensive, and no one is actually resettled unless their identity, background, motives, and affiliations have been ascertained beyond doubt," says international migration expert Maurizio Albahari, a professor at the University of Notre Dame (Altman). A senior admission official also says, " It is the most rigorous screening and security vetting of any category of traveler to the United States" (Altman).  So, why is the government scared to allow Syrian refugees into the country if they are going to go through this strong immigration process? The federal government of the United States should trust the immigration policy they created and save those in chaos in Syria.  

In conclusion, Italians and Syrians were both treated negatively when coming to the United States, but they way the government is handling the situation is different because of the different time periods. Italians were sent to internment camps and stripped away from their personal freedoms while Syrians are being racially profiled because of the actions in their home country. I believe we should trust our immigration and refugee policy that we have placed in America. The process is long and extensive and has caught rarely messed up. "The United States has resettled 784,000 refugees since September 11, 2001, and in those 14 years, exactly three resettled refugees have been arrested for planning terrorist activities" Kathleen Newland of the migration policy says. If you do the math, over 99.99% of refugees coming into the United States are not terrorists. This proves how well the federal government has been doing in making sure criminals and terrorists do not sneak into the country.  Looking ahead, I believe that we must keep allowing these refugees in to stick to what our founding fathers made this country to be. Our refugee policy has worked since 2001, so why would we want to change and not trust it? We are a "melting pot" accepting all different diversities into America to live freely. 

