October 14th, 2016

Dear Future President,

I am a resident of Miami, FL, and I am reaching out to your administrative office because I feel as though we, as a country, are not doing enough in regards to the different refugee crises present across the MENA region. 

Under United States law, a refugee, as defined by Section 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), is a person who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her home country because of a “well-founded fear of persecution” due to race, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin.

Currently, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United States organizations that work with the UNHCR (USCIS and USRAP) are not doing their job to their full potential, and this is due to the caps that are placed on the number of refugees that are allowed to come to the U.S., receive help from our refugee organizations, as well as the lack of funding to help these organizations work more efficiently.  

As a young, concerned citizen of both the United States and Jordan, I have personally encountered how awful the circumstances are. This past summer, I had the opportunity to meet several Syrian and Iraqi refugees and the stories that I heard about the process were just so heart-breaking and unnecessary. The good news is there are things that the Senate can do to help improve the situation. 

I am writing to ask you to not only make changes to the current national policies on the refugee crises that are affecting the entire Middle East and hurting millions of children, but to also advocate for change and bring more attention to this serious problem that is not discussed enough. 

Thank you for considering this matter.

Sincerely, 

Faris Qubain