Here’s what people are saying about whether the U.S. should accept Syrian refugees
A sign welcoming Syrian refugees is placed at the entrance to the office of the Arizona governor during a rally at the Arizona Capitol Nov. 17 in Phoenix.
The Paris attacks have prompted new scrutiny of refugees fleeing Syria. Much of it hinges on whether or not the United States should allow Syrian refugees to relocate here. State governors quickly began to refuse to accept Syrian refugees -- though, because the programs are funded and administered by the federal government, states do not have the ability to legally block them.
President Obama said refusing refugees would be "a betrayal of our values." On social media, people showed where they stood on the issue with Facebook statuses, Twitter statements and Instagram posts.
Many people shared the charts from a Twitter account @HistOpinion that showed how Americans felt about accepting Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's regime in the early days of WWII. As the Washington Post noted, the U.S. was still recovering then from the Depression, and many people treated non-Christian refugees with suspicion and hostility.
Others looked a little further back in history.
This comic was shared without attribution many times on Instagram and Twitter.
(If you know who the artist is, we'd like to credit him or her. Please let the reporter know.)
Some people examined refusing refugees in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement.
As more than a few people pointed out, Steve Jobs' father was a Syrian migrant. (Some called him a refugee, which is not entirely correct: Abdul Fattah Jandali, Jobs' biological father, came to America in 1954 after unrest erupted in Beirut, where he was in college. He came to live with a relative in the United States and continued his education at the University of Wisconsin.)
Conversely, some people took the opportunity to point out that the U.S. has citizens who also live in dismal conditions.
Others cited concern for America's safety.
Lots of people tagged images and art with #refugeeswelcome -- including many who cited the verses on the Statue of Liberty.
What do you think? Do American values support our country taking in refugees seeking asylum?
Follow Jessica Roy on Twitter @jessica_roy.
UPDATES
7:03 p.m. Nov. 18: This story was updated to remove a post that was deleted by its creator.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
