Greeson: Why it's crazy to just welcome Syrians into the U.S.A.

Almost 30 governors around the country have said they do not want Syrian refugees in their states.

Good for them. Whether you want to admit it, we as a country must slow-walk the immigration process. Especially now in a time when terror threats are at their highest since the innocent days before Sept. 11, 2001.

A large number of us wrestle with this, the charge to help the helpless and to share our blessings is a noble calling. This is the rare issue that conservative religious beliefs and the dividing line between right and left get blurred.

Jay Greeson

It's a moral dilemma. But it's also a safety dilemma.

Some may argue that if the U.S. closes our borders, the terrorists are winning.

And they would be right; the terrorists are winning. At least right now. After Paris and with known attempts across Europe, hijacked flights and beheadings, ISIS is a dangerous threat on a daily basis across the globe. And these United States are target No. 1 - a fact we can never forget.

This small, radical group of barbarians has changed our daily lives. If we are not prepared to wage a fight that includes vetting Syrian refugees before they enter this country, then we are fully committed to letting the terrorists continue winning.

Wrap your argument however you want. But you know in places you don't like to acknowledge when you chuckle at Bill Maher's over-the-top rants, to fight a war against extremists, extreme measures must be taken and embraced.

Sadly, this is not the time when we should welcome all comers from across the globe.

Times have changed on all fronts, so why shouldn't our approach to immigration also change? This is not about Donald Trump's grand, magical plan of using a giant hovercraft to scoop everyone whose last name ends in a "z" and drop them south of the border.

This is not about politics, religion or emotion at all. Forget protocol and passion for a moment and embrace pragmatism.

This is about not blindly welcoming tens of thousands of Syrians into our country.

This is about trying to protect the children of the men and women working, fighting and struggling to do the right thing every day in every part of country.

Put another way, what if 10,000 immigrants from any country on the planet were coming here from a nation that was known to have an infectious disease? Let's say less than 10 percent were infected, but that disease was intent on killing whomever came in contact with it.

Would we not take every measure to test every single one of those immigrants to find out if they were infectious before we admitted them to our great country?

Those terrorists - and even if it's less than 1 percent of the potential 10,000 Syrians, it's still 10 trained killers, or roughly half the number of murderers that pulled off the 9/11 attacks - could very well be at our door.

And what have we always learned when someone knocks on our door? Find out who it is. If they are related or connected to terrorism, then they are not allowed in.

At the core of this conflict is ISIS' goal to destroy as many Americans - and as much of our daily life - as possible.

To welcome them within our borders allows for a much bigger chance of that.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.