Perspectief 2017-36

2017-36 JT 1 Reageer General introduction 1. Research question In the wake of the November 2015 Paris terror attacks, 31 U.S. states decided to close their territory to refugees 1 . An interesting move, considering at least six out of the seven identified perpetrators of the violence in France were not refugees but had been born and raised in Western Europe 2 . Western countries have become particularly hesitant about admitting non- Christian refugees, especially young Muslim men. The U.S. in particular has over the past decade exhibited a preference for resettling Christian refugees: overall, about 44 per cent of the 762,000 refugees resettled in America since 2003 are Christians3. Although none of the 3,000,000 refugees resettled in the U.S. since the 1970s have been proven to be involved with terrorist activities, President Barack Obama’s September 2015 decision to allow 100,000 refugees into the U.S. annually in the coming years 3 was instantly met with much criticism from certain subgroups, most notably from white Evangelicals. On the contrary, 1 Fantz, A. & B. Brumfield (2015) More than half the nation’s governors say Syrian refugees not welcome accessed June 1, 2016 a t http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/16/world/paris-attacks-syrian-refugees- backlash/. 2 Washington Post (2015) What we know about the Paris attacks and the hunt for the attackers accessed June 1, 2016 at https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/world/paris-attacks/. 3 Gordon, M.R. et al. (2015) U.S. will accept more refugees as crisis grows accessed June 1, 2016 at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/world/europe/us-to-increase-admission-of-refugees-to-100000-in- 2017-kerry-says.html.