Don’t politicize refugees

Anti-Muslim state Rep. Heather Scott, who helped force us to pay for a special legislative session to renew payments for Idaho child support, is up to her divisive tactics again. This time she wants a special session to address refugee resettlement (a federal program) for those, mostly women and children, fleeing war and oppression in Syria.

Fearing an “invasion of our country” by these refugees, she has been invited by the Spokane Interfaith Council to an event at the Spokane Islamic Center to receive information on the estimated 5,000 American Muslims living in the Inland Northwest.

The U.S. ensures that refugees receive the most vetting and security screenings of any of the groups that enter our country, a process that takes over 18 months to complete.

As former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, “I am deeply disturbed by the calls to shut the U.S.’s doors to properly vetted Syrian refugees fleeing terrorism and persecution in their native land. These calls are motivated by fear, not facts, and they fly in the face of our country’s proud tradition of admitting refugees from every corner of the globe.”

James Ramsey

Sandpoint