Immigration has become another hot topic for political banter. Regardless of the debate, there is certainly a risk to bringing strangers in. And it doesn’t matter how many background checks are conducted—some with evil intent will slip through the cracks. Of course, a more stringent vetting process would catch more dangerous people than a loose process does.

Yahoo News recently posted an exclusive interview with the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. He said there are terrorists coming into Western countries among the refugees.

In the exclusive interview at the presidential office in Damascus, Assad said President Trump’s freeze on admitting refugees from his country—part of an executive order that has drawn widespread protests and is being challenged in federal court—“is an American issue” on which he would not take sides. But asked if some of those who fled are “aligned with terrorists,” Assad quickly replied, “Definitely” (Michael Isikoff, “Exclusive: Syria’s Assad Tells Yahoo News Some Refugees Are ‘Definitely’ Terrorists,” Feb. 9, 2017).

The embattled Assad is not a man to be trusted in all such matters, but in this case he’s right. It’s false to believe that every person claiming to be a refugee is legitimate. We can see from the news coming out of England and Europe that it just isn’t true. Terrorists can easily use the cloak of “refugee” to infiltrate Western nations.

Assad also noted that “you don’t need a significant number to commit atrocities” (ibid.) He followed up by saying that the 9/11 attacks were conducted by just a few men.

Though throwing open national doors to any and all refugees may seem humanitarian on the surface, governments must protect their own citizens too. We all have a responsibility not to just foreigners but to our neighbors and our own families. This should not be an excuse against helping where we are able to. But we must also guard against those who would do harm. (Source: Yahoo News.)