Syrian refugees should be treated differently than illegal immigrants

There’s been a tempest of ignorant people in this country that say Syrian refugees should be treated by our government the same way illegal immigrants coming from Mexico and other Central American countries are treated.

This is predicated on the idea that refugees and illegal aliens are the same. They aren’t. Legally, they’re very different. Refugees have rights under international law, illegal aliens don’t.

This difference was clarified by the United Nations 1951 refugee convention, which was signed by nations in the UN, including the United States. This treaty created the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and grants refugees the right to seek political asylum.

Political asylum is when an individual is granted nationality in a country because they’re fleeing armed conflict and their safety can’t be assured if they return to that country. In other words, they have no choice but to leave.

The United States has no obligation to them until they reach the United States, but when they do, we are obligated by international law to grant them asylum. This isn’t true for illegal immigrants coming from Mexico and other Central American countries.

Illegal immigrants don’t have rights in the United States because they have bypassed our system of vetting who comes into the country. Our only legal obligation to illegal immigrants in the United States is to send them back to where they came from. We break this law all the time.

There are some localities that have declared themselves “sanctuary cities,” or “safe heaven cities.” In these localities, one of which is Minneapolis, it’s illegal, according to city law, to report an illegal immigrant to immigration officials.

Making a “sanctuary city” is illegal under federal law because the power to decide how we will vet immigrants is granted to the federal government in the enumerated powers in the Constitution.

We’ve also done the opposite, by some states not allowing refugees fleeing the conflicts in Syria and elsewhere to apply for asylum.

The United States has accepted only a fraction of the 4.6 million refugees who have fled Syria, most of whom have gone to Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon — countries that don’t have the infrastructure economies to support such heavy burdens.

By law, President Obama can only admit about 10,000 refugees in fiscal year 2016, and no commitments can be made beyond that. This is drastically under the number who apply, 65 percent of whom are women and children, according to Fact Check.

The United States must take a more active role in the Syrian refugee crisis. We must change the law that limits the president to only admitting 10,000 refugees. We must also obey our own laws about illegal immigration and keep our borders secure.

Most of all, people need to be more aware of the policy that governs our stance on immigration and refugees, because people are dying and those who hold power are to blame. And in democratic society, the people hold power.