“Should the United States offer a haven in this country for Jewish refugees from Central Europe?” was the question published in The Harvard Crimson from a poll by the Student Opinion Surveys of America on Dec. 14, 1938.
Of the undergraduates surveyed, 31.2 percent said “yes,” while 68.8 percent polled said “no.”
Less than a year later, in June 1939, the number of Jewish refugee applicants for U.S. visas was over 300,000 – most visas were denied.
As of Nov. 19, 2015, the European Union registered more than 230,000 Syrian refugee applicants for 2015. Since 2012, the U.S. has accepted 2,174 refugees, but currently, 30 states have issued statements that aim to lower that number– suspending refugee admittance entirely until states are given a larger say in refugee resettlement in the U.S.
American public opinion on refugee admittance remains divided, but for Gilya Schmidt, professor of religious studies with a specialization in Judaic studies, examining a historical case study may offer some perspective.
Schmidt spent her career teaching on the Holocaust, and she said the American reaction to Jewish refugees both before and after World War II has never failed to shock her students.
“Very little difference, which is really shocking,” Schmidt said. “We were very isolationist at the time, fear of someone else taking our resources, fear of bringing in ideas that we didn’t want here, such as communism.”
For Schmidt, fear of the unknown is a natural, albeit unfortunate, human response.
“It’s an irrational response, an emotional response,” she said. “Being different oftentimes is threatening to some people.”
Taken in context of recent reactions toward Syrian refugees, Schmidt said she finds this sort of predictable human behavior even more concerning.
“This reminds me so much of what is happening with Paris right now,” Schmidt said. “We are afraid of some of the suicide bombers or terrorists, that they might have come in with the refugees.”
Regarding the 1938 undergraduate student poll, Schmidt remarked on the contextual relevancy of the response. In that same year, the Evian Conference convened to determine how to handle the massive efflux of Jews from Nazi Germany. Out of the 29 countries represented, including the U.S. and Britain, only the Dominican Republic offered a substantial haven for refugees.
Schmidt theorized that this apathetic response gave Hitler the “green light” to take his initial plan of emigration for the Jews one step further. Without extrapolating too far on what these events mean for the Syrian refugee crisis, Schmidt acknowledged the patterns present in history.
“It’s not that history repeats itself, but I think some of the characteristics of how people abuse other human beings repeats itself,” Schmidt said. “We look down on a group, we have certain perceptions of a group, we single them out, we try to separate the good people from the bad people.”
This singling out and encouraged division, however, is what many nations currently rely on in their immigration policy.
Professor Karla McKanders, associate professor of law with a specialization in immigration law, outlined the extensive process in Graphic 1 below.
According to McKanders, this process usually takes up to two years and states within the U.S. have not traditionally been involved. This makes the statements recently issued by dozens of state governors that they will no longer accept refugees largely ineffective under the current system.
“It raises a constitutional issue because the state has not been involved in this vetting process of bringing refugees to the United States,” McKanders said.
State Senator Richard Briggs acknowledged that immigration is a federal issue and not a state issue, but maintained that state’s should be allowed a greater role. According to Briggs, the state government’s main goal is to ensure the security of the screening process and to allow tracking and registration of all incoming refugees.
“I think we would like to know the numbers, which we are not getting that information, and I think we would like to know what the vetting process is because the problem is they can’t really vet them,” Briggs said.
McKanders addressed what she views as common concerns on refugees being streamlined into the country without proper screening.
“I think there’s been a lot of confusion in the media regarding the process for refugees,” McKanders said. “I’m not aware of anybody that is allowed to bypass this system.”
There is one alternative method of obtaining refugee status outside of the process detailed below: claiming asylum.
Claiming asylum is an internal process that begins when a non-citizen already present on U.S. soil petitions to be given sanctuary. The Refugee Convention, an international document, requires the U.S. not to return a person facing persecution back to their country of origin. Additionally, the Refugee Act of 1980 forbids governors from preventing refugee integration into their state.
“There could be, and there are, some Syrians on student visas or work visas or people that come to the border that may request asylum,” McKanders said. “But, under those circumstances, that person still goes through a singular screening process.”
For government officials such as Briggs, these standard procedures are inadequate in light of recent world events. According to Briggs, the chaos in Syria is preventing proper vetting from taking place, as open communication with the Syrian embassy regarding background checks isn’t available.
“What we are requesting is something that normally states do not do, but because of the extraordinary circumstances of what happened in Paris and what’s happening in Belgium and what’s happening in Syria, we’re requesting that there be more communication and be more involvement with the federal government when they’re looking to resettle some of these people in Tennessee,” Briggs said.
“These are extraordinary times.”
Schmidt said measures of controlling radical populations, including isolation, tracking, keeping lists and ethnic cleansing, can be a “dangerous path to go down.”
Yassin, a Syrian refugee in Knoxville, knows firsthand the danger in excessive investigation.
The last time Yassin was in Syria was 2011, right before the protests began, he said. Yassin returned from two years studying in Spain, and, almost directly after landing, his passport was confiscated and he was told to go meet with what he referred to as the “secret police.”
For the next month, Yassin was interrogated from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m daily by authorities, who asked questions ranging from what his family does to why he talked to the Spanish about freedom. Finally, Yassin caught word from neighbors that others were being asked questions, so he bought a ticket and got out.
“Ifany secret police are asking about you, your neighbor come to you and tell you ‘Hey, they’re asking about you.’ And you know what that means,” Yassin said. “They’ll take you away and put you in jail or something.
“So as soon as they started asking, I just left the country.”
Leaving behind his family in Syria, Yassin applied for asylum after entering the U.S. on a visa. Shortly after, he opened his own restaurant in downtown Knoxville, Yassin’s Falafel House.
After keeping his refugee status secret for years, Yassin said he has decided to open up to the community about the ongoing plight of Syrians.
“We have to do something. We can’t just sit there,” Yassin said. “They have to see ‘ Ok not all of us are terrorists or not all of us come here to ask help from the government or to have food.’ We can make our own life if we have a chance.”
Although Yassin stays in contact with his family, who currently reside in the city of Damascus, he said he remains concerned for their safety, knowing the state of his homeland.
“It’s hard to explain. You have everything but you are ten minutes from all the dangers,” Yassin said. “They talk about a street. I know it. I’ve been there. They’ve been attacked with everything tanks, airplanes.”
Since becoming an advocate for refugees, Yassin said he has received mostly support and only some personal attacks from the Knoxville community.
“What’s really good about Knoxville is the kind of support we are getting. I was not expecting that. Maybe it’s because we are downtown and are around many open-minded people around us,” Yassin said.
“These people have supported us a lot. More than you can imagine.”
Schmidt advocated the supportive attitude that Yassin reports in the local community as something all Americans should exemplify.
“If we are the land of the free and the brave, we need to give everyone a chance. We are a country of immigrants and we can’t forget that, even if we’ve been here for several generations,” Schmidt said.
“Everybody came from somewhere.”
