These children are no different than Omran Daqneesh, whose distant
stare from the back of an ambulance in Aleppo bore witness to the
senseless violence he suffered; or Alan Kurdi, whose lifeless body on a
Turkish beach condemned the worst savagery of humankind. Once he learns the details--if he chooses to study them--if President
Trump wishes to make our vetting even more extreme than it already is,
I guess he may do so. But banning refugees and prioritizing immigration
by religion or ethnicity simultaneously abandons our principles and
weakens our counterterrorism efforts. It sends the wrong message to our
Muslim partners who fight with us in places like Iraq and Afghanistan,
including civilians in those countries who have risked their lives
alongside our troops. It also hands ISIS a recruiting tool by fueling
their narrative that the Western and Muslim worlds cannot coexist in
peace. If the President really wants to secure our borders and ensure
extremists stay out of the country, there are far better alternatives,
and they are alternatives that are not at war with who we are as
Americans. We should work together to close security gaps in our Visa
Waiver Program and partner with European countries to better track the
flow of foreign fighters throughout Europe and the Middle East. We
should also do more to counter the ability of terrorists to radicalize
and recruit, both here at home and abroad. We should do more to equip
our agencies with tools and capabilities to degrade the ability of
terrorist organizations--in particular, ISIS--to persuade and inspire
using social media. Congress should enact ideas passed by the Senate in
2013 to strengthen border security, double the number of border agents,
and address visa overstays. By tackling real vulnerabilities and investing in smart security
solutions, we can secure not only our borders but also our values, and
we will not repeat the darkest moments of our history when America
turned away from those fleeing persecution around the world. A year ago, I came to the Senate floor to share a note sent to me by
my grandparents on my first birthday.
Keywords matched
immigration visa border security Visa refugees