As the terrorist group ISIS continues to take over a Syrian country distraught in a civil war, refugees are becoming more and more abundant, looking for escapes in countries such as the United States of America. However, while not all Syrian refugees are problematic, the threat that they could possibly pose to America and its people is a risk that we cannot afford to take.

Just recently in the heinous attacks on Paris, France, a passport was found on the body of a terrorist who traveled from Syria into Europe with terror-struck refugees. If Syrian refugees can be involved in European terrorist attacks, what makes us think that it cannot happen on our own turf?

In our own Declaration of Independence, we promise our own people the unalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  If we allow refugees into our country, all that it takes is for one, just one, to be a terrorist to impede on these rights.

As a nation, it is our responsibility to protect our own people before we protect those in other nations. While we in America pride ourselves on welcoming others with open arms, it is ultimately unsafe to bring in refugees from an area of such conflict and of such hate towards our own country.

Many will claim that the screening process used to determine whether or not a refugee is safe to enter our country is safe and that we should accept them openly.

Of course, our screening process can pick out a person via a background check filled with links to crime or even terrorism, but many terrorists and criminals have a clean slate.

Even US security officials have acknowledged the great risk in allowing so many refugees, claiming that we just don’t have enough information to make a confident decision of whether or not these refugees pose a risk.

“We may have someone who is not on our radar and someone may choose to do something bad after they get here,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said of the limited information on the refugees.

While congress and the rest of Washington makes the final decision, it is important to understand the view of the American people. According to a poll conducted by Bloomberg, a whopping 53% of Americans oppose the acceptance of any Syrian refugees. This is in comparison to only 28% of Americans who want to welcome the refugees using the current process. The remaining 19% of people are either undecided or want only Christian refugees to be admitted.

It is understandable to allow refugees who don’t pose a threat and are accepted by our people, but when over one half of U.S. citizens do not want these refugees to be admitted it is an act of disrespect and overall ignorance by our leaders to provide refugees entrance into our country.

On top of our citizens opposing the refugee program, over half of U.S. governors refuse to allow these refugees into their states as well.

Of these governors is NJ’s own Chris Christie, who refuses to allow any group of people who can be attached to terrorism into the state.

People who support the refugee program claim an American obligation to take in these people who cannot provide for themselves. However, when many of our own citizens have poor standards of living, it is unnecessary to take in these refugees. If we have the ability to take in the refugees, we at least need to provide the American people a better quality of life first.

Also, I do not see the argument where it is our “obligation” to take in these refugees as nowhere in our constitution does it state that we have to do this, nor is it obligatory in any other documents.

Furthermore, many supporters draw parallels between the current Syrian refuge situation to the events that took place in WWII with regards to the Jews. However, these two situations are completely different. With regards to the WWII situation, Jews who sought refuge posed no security threat. This instance with the Syrians however does create a national security threat. Hundreds of thousands of Islamists have been identified as radical, especially those in the Islamic State.   Radical Islamists seek an end to western civilization, and the possibility that people with that belief can be let into our country is very scary and it cannot happen

Ultimately, while America is known for its acceptance of people from all nations, the threat that these Syrian refugees can pose to the American people is a risk that should not be taken.

So, as you finish reading this, think about this analogy raised by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Imagine you are given a bag of peanuts, and you were told that just three of them were poisonous and deadly.  Would you still take a chance and eat them?