by Stephanie Petrovick

In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the United States has been debating whether it should allow Syrian refugees to come to the States because of the security risk. Thirty one of fifty states say that we should not, including Massachusetts. Governor Charlie Baker is unwilling to let  any refugees into Massachusetts until he has more information from the Obama Administration about things like how these people are investigated and what steps are being taken to protect the citizens from a possible bombing. However, no one is sure exactly how much power the governors truly have in where the refugees settle because of the Refugee Act of 1980, that states governors cannot legally block refugees from settling in their communities.

Students have many different opinions on the subject.

Freshman Victoria Baird said, “I think it’s up to him what he wants to do. I think it’s kinda stupid, but then again I’m kind of fine with not letting them in because they’re stealing our jobs and stuff. And my mom, she’s unemployed because she can’t find a job because all those people came and stole her jobs. So, I’m kind of fine with it. It’s probably going to impact people a lot because there’s probably Syrian people who have their green card or whatever that card is, and they can stay here but the other ones can’t. And it might be like, ‘oh my family is going, oh well’.”

Junior Meagan Martel said, “In my opinion, it’s kind of ridiculous because if you go back to World War II that’s what we did to the Jews. We kind of condemned them to their deaths in a sense. I think we should be allowing refugees in and that background checks are a good thing that we should totally do, but just refusing people outright who are trying to escape a country where they could be killed or whatever’s going on there is wrong. It’s just against my personal morals because I’ve got to help everybody. I think this will make people more fearful of Syrians and Middle Eastern people in general because there’s already a stigma about Middle Easterns that’s saying ‘Oh, everyone’s terrorists and they’re all out to bomb us or kill America’. But really there’s only like 0.5% of people or something that are terrorists. They’re good people, and we should really offer them asylum instead of condemning them because they might be terrorists.”

Senior Tom Maye said, “I think we should allow Syrian refugees. America is an immigrant nation, and we were built by accepting the immigrants before so it doesn’t really make sense to not allow all these refugees who might be in a serious crisis because some of them might be terrorists. They’re literally fleeing because of terrorism, so it doesn’t make sense to bar them because they might be terrorists. I don’t think it’s going to directly affect my life, but for the Syrian refugees it’s not so great.”

Senior Hannah Pollan said, “I think it’s going to be really bad because it’s their country that’s literally being taken over, and they have to escape and go off somewhere else. So not letting them in is really like a punch to the face. I think in our personal state we’re going to think less of our government, and I think personally a lot of us stand for the Syrian nation and we want to support them. I think it’s a big issue, and a lot of people in our state will be outraged.”

Senior Marcus Valentin said, “I don’t think it’s great, but it’s sort of necessary because we were having some problems with some refugees being linked to terrorists like ISIS. So, we think some refugees might be radicalized, so that’s our issue. But at the same time, we should do background checks on who’s been where, their criminal backgrounds, and stuff like that.”

Senior Kayley Cedrone said, “I think that it’s bad in the sense that it’s creating a bad environment where we can’t help the people who need it. Especially from Syria, where they have families and kids who need to get back on their feet, and I think it’s a good thing to have them come here and give them that opportunity to get away from the violence and all the dangerous things going on there. But I kind of agree with him to the point where some of these refugees are going past our system, and they’re coming in and they’re not actually needing help. They’re ISIS members, and they’re bringing in fake documents and fake names and everything and that’s why I can see his side of why he might not want Syrian refugees. I think it brings a problem of diversity. I think it will impact people in the sense that we’re not helping all the people that we need to and not bringing in enough diverse people, but I feel it will also keep us safer in a way.”

Senior Scott Kall said, “I, frankly, to put it in strong words, am kind of disgusted with his decision to not allow Syrian refugees. I mean, the fact is, you look at the situation, and there are millions and millions and millions of people in Syria who are struggling against chemical weapons and their government infringing upon their lives in every way possible. And there are millions of people who just genuinely need help and need to get away from that government. The fact that the United States, and specifically in this case Governor Baker and Massachusetts, won’t let people into Massachusetts because they’re afraid they might encounter the 0.001% chance that they might be a terrorist is, frankly, just not something he should be doing. a) It’s not a viable statistic, and b) it’s certainly not a viable reason to keep out Syrian refugees. If you look at the country right now, we are kind of split on this topic. Because there are genuinely a lot of people who are afraid that they will infringe upon our national security. However, there are just as many people who are disgusted with this and who want Syrian refugees to be let into the country because they sympathize with them. I think that this is going to further polarize our country, even though it’s very very polarized at this point in time. And I think this will raise serious questions about what lengths we should go to to uphold or national security or what we think of as our national security, versus how can we uphold humanitarian law really, without letting these people who are suffering from the lack of humanitarianism into our country.”