What do we know about refugees?

“There is strong evidence that many Muslims hold views that clash with Western norms.”

What do we know about the religious and political beliefs of refugees and asylum seekers who have entered the United States these past eight years?

The U.S. takes more than twice as many refugees as all countries from the rest of the industrialized world combined. But for leftist activists, the number of refugees entering the U.S. is never enough and our borders should be open for all.

However, these same activists seem to only care about the resettlement of Muslims refugees and rarely, if ever, speak out for persecuted minority Christian refugees. Why?

The Obama administration admitted more Muslim refugees to the U.S. than any time in our history. A closer examination of this reveals startling evidence that the motivation to resettle Muslim refugees is not based on humanitarian concern. Rather, the reasons may be political.

According to a report by Pew Research (July 22, 2016), when it comes to political and social views, Muslims are far more likely to identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party (70%) than the Republican Party (11%) and to say they prefer a bigger government providing more services (68%) over a smaller government providing fewer services (21%).

In other words, Muslim refugees, when they become eligible to vote, overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party and remain on public assistance. Christians, on the other hand, are more likely to vote with the Republican Party and become self-sufficient. Tragically, this could be one of the major reasons persecuted minority Christians were basically ignored these past eight years.

Refugee resettlement should be based on persecution and threat of death, not on politics.

A clash with western norms

There is strong evidence that many Muslims hold views that clash with Western norms.

• In the United Kingdom police recorded more than 11,000 “honor” crimes between 2010 and 2014. A British think tank counted 18 honor killings in that country from 2010 to 2014.
• A 2013 survey sponsored by Pew Research Center found that 99 percent of Muslims in Afghanistan and 91 percent of Iraqi Muslims favored making Sharia law the official law of their countries.
• A 2011 Pew survey found that 40 percent of Pakistani Muslims believed it is often or sometimes justified to kill a woman engaged in premarital sex or adultery in order to protect the family’s honor.

Government assistance

According to the latest report by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, refugees from the Middle East in 2014 — the most recent year available — Only 37.1 percent of Middle East refugees were working, compared with the overall refugee rate of 48.5 percent. Most are on government assistance.

Of the 10,000 Syrian refugees admitted to the U.S. over the past 12 months, less than 0.5 percent were persecuted minority Christians.

Christians Freedom International supports President Trump’s executive order on immigration and is calling for the privatization of the refugee resettlement program.