To the Israelites, God proclaimed: “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.”
Yet, fear mongering and pedantic politics always played into Gov. Bobby Jindal’s presidential playbook, despite the purported Catholic’s post-conversion values. He issued an executive order to stop Syrian refugees from resettling in Louisiana on Monday.
While I’m not too surprised by Jindal’s politics of stupidity, I am worried about U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s ploy to hijack the tragedy in Paris to siphon off votes from a scared electorate. The gubernatorial candidate began a petition calling for President Barack Obama to “stop allowing Syrian refugees into Louisiana,” spreading a false fear that thousands of Syrians relocated to Louisiana.
Fun fact — his wife’s employer, the Archdiocese of New Orleans, helped settle two Syrian families in the state.
According to the U.S. Department of State, only 14 Syrian refugees currently live in Louisiana, and they all underwent an extensive screening process that took roughly 12-18 months to complete.
Conservatives have always maintained the political wherewithal to capitalize on tragedies to increase government oversight and power, despite their calls for smaller forms of government.
The PATRIOT Act allowed for extreme, un-American acts of violence toward those suspected as terrorists and National Security Agency surveillance on millions of Americans. The legislation passed in the aftermath of 9/11.
Politicians such as Jindal and Vitter use terrorist attacks to scare voters with lies of how their opponents oppose increased security measures and, in this instance, want to bring Syrians into the state. State Rep. John Bel Edwards doesn’t come out of this unscathed, though. He backed up on his original stance hoping for the state to continue to assist Syrian refugees fleeing religious persecution under his governorship.
After considerable backlash, the Democrat sent out a news release saying, “It’s imperative for us to pause the influx of refugees flowing into our state without more information on the security measures in place.”
My Catholic faith tells me to take in my brothers and sisters in need of aid. In the wake of religious persecutions and the atrocities committed by Islamic State group and other factions in Syria’s civil war, I cannot see closing our state’s borders to all Syrian refugees, including families with small children who have gone through months of screening.
I’m all for investigating how we screen refugees coming into our country. But I’m not for turning away innocent people looking for sanctuary.
Jindal, Vitter and Edwards succeeded in turning a national issue barely affecting Louisiana into a local one, ignoring the more important news released on Monday — the state Revenue Estimating Conference estimated the mid-year budget gap of half a billion dollars.
Instead of focusing on our crippling financial situation, our candidates look to issues they mostly have no control over and have little effect on Louisiana.
The Syrian refugee crisis is in need of legitimate, national discussion, not partisan politics nailing a “No room at the Inn” sign upon our state borders.
Justin DiCharia is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Slidell, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @JDiCharia.