In Washington, this week “The Pianist of Willesden Lane” is playing at the Kennedy Center. The 90-minute solo show that opened for the first time in 2014 has a powerful message on, among other things, the importance of hosting and helping refugees. As the State Department announced that they have lowered the limit on the number of refugees that will be accepted this coming year by one third, the performance is also a timely reminder.
“The Pianist of Willesden Lane” is the story of the performer’s mother and how she, as a child, escaped Austria in the wake of Nazi attacks on Jewish families to England. Even as England braced for war and London suffered the nightly terror of the blitz, Jewish children from all over Europe were absorbed into society.
It is not an easy performance to watch, nor should it be. The personification of the personal story of a refugee escaping violence and is a powerful reminder that welcoming those in need is critically important.
In the “America first” era as Trump cuts the number of refugees to be welcomed to the U.S. from 45,000 to 30,000, humanitarian reasons like those shown so vividly in the performance, seem to be trumped by nationalism fueled by fear and justified with arguments of national security and economic loss.
But based on the numbers, those concerns are flat out wrong.
For one thing, refugees are not a national security threat. Indeed, since the program began in 1980, not a single American has been killed in a terrorist incident caused by a refugee. This is largely because refugees coming to the U.S. are closely screened in a process that can take up to three years prior to entry. Those coming from high risk countries, like Syria, are also subject to additional screening.
When it comes to economics, refugees are actually net contributors. Of course, when they first arrive, they are eligible for services that help them to get settled, but over the course of the first twenty years after they arrive, on average, they pay $21,000 more in taxes than they received in benefits. Refugee contribution is also reflected in other economic metrics as well with high rates of entrepreneurship, and even higher median household income than average. Most refugees, 84 percent of those who have been in the U.S. for 16 to 25 years, become citizens. That means that far from seeing refugees as a burden, Americans would be wise to consider resettlement a good investment.
There are plenty of other reasons to support refugees too. The program fosters American good will around the world, provides an avenue to help those who have supported U.S. efforts abroad and lessens the burden on the countries already facing overwhelming numbers of refugees helping to create regional stability.
In short, the U.S. is not turning away those in need based on any credible concerns. Instead, the administration is hiding behind thin words to justify bad policy — and trying to do so without the required consultation of Congress.
That is unacceptable, and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle were right to condemn Trump for both his unjustifiable cap and his failure to comply with U.S. law requiring congressional involvement.
Now, as the Trump administration says that it will honor its obligation to consult Congress, lawmakers must push the administration to have a policy based on humanitarian principles and data rather than empty justifications.
