Samuel Xayanourom is author of next 2015-2016 MLHS senior student editorial
Migrant Migraines
Urging his family to stay strong and continue onward, he stops to check his watch – 1 a.m. At that point, a 2000-watt spotlight shines on the young family, and Austrian Police come in, taking the family into custody. This family was two kilometers from Germany, two kilometers from freedom, two kilometers from a new life away from the bloodshed and strife of their old life. This scenario repeats itself multiple times each night as millions flee North Africa and the Middle East and attempt to reach Germany, France, and the United Kingdom via Greece, Hungary, and Austria. The migrant crisis has grown out of control, and someone must end the chaos.
The migrant crisis did not start in 2015, but was caused by a variety of catalysts in the Middle East. Back in 2010, a man set himself on fire to protest the Tunisian government, which set off a wave of protests and violence in the Middle East. When this wave hit Syria, instead of stepping down or making concessions as the other Arab leaders did, President Bashar Al-Assad responded with military force. This action plunged Syria into a bloody civil war, in which hundreds of thousands are dying and around half of Syria’s pre-war population are displaced, with many leaving the country. Adding to the civil war, the group ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) is taking tracts of land all over eastern Syria and western Iraq and committing ethnic, religious, and intellectual genocide all over their controlled areas, giving all of these give people more than enough reasons to flee.
Faced with all of these trials, people looked for a way out. Most of these millions of people headed toward Europe, a bastion of stability among the rough seas of peril. Europe was aware of this and prepared for some 100,000 to 200,000 migrants and refugees. When around a million people crossed into Europe, the European Union was overwhelmed, causing the Union to restrict one of Europe’s most cherished freedoms (open borders for all) and closed borders to try and control the surge. The main governments dealing with this problem are the governments of Hungary and Austria. Despite the number of refugees, many other countries have offered to take in the refugees, the leader being Germany, which prepared around 1,000,000 spots, but the refugees do have a long and grueling journey before they can make it near Germany and Western Europe. Refugees must cross the Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Greece and avoid being picked up by Coast Guards on the way. Some refugees have even reported men in all black coming in on a dingy and destroying engines so that boats full of refugees drift in the water without water or food.
The United States must increase its involvement if this crisis has any chance of ending soon. As of now, the United States has offered to take 10,000 refugees, which is more than what the United States was originally going to accept, but not enough to ease the crisis. In order to even start helping, we have to increase our quota for immigrants from the Middle East, or at least increase aid for our European allies taking in refugees and migrants.
Some say the United States could have prevented this crisis by intervening in Syria when we had a chance, but that window has closed and solving the Syrian Civil War is no longer as simple as it could have been. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump said he would take in a large number of refugees, claiming the crisis was the fault of President Obama’s foreign policy. However, Mr. Trump later changed his stance and said he would deport all refugees due to possible ties with ISIL. He has even suggested a ban on all Muslims from entering the United States, even for a visit.
The United States must step up as a global leader in these trying times. If we do not step up, someone else will, and it will be our rivals. As the inscription on our beloved Lady Liberty states, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Now is not the time for dodging responsibility, now is the time for action; an action that will be remembered by the refugees as an action that saved their lives.