{"id":8747,"date":"2017-02-13T09:15:59","date_gmt":"2017-02-13T09:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=8747"},"modified":"2017-02-14T20:03:59","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T20:03:59","slug":"refugees-is-there-room-for-a-middle-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/refugees-is-there-room-for-a-middle-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"Refugees: Is there room for a middle ground?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Juliette Tolay<\/a>, Pennsylvania State University<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The debate over whether or not to bring in more refugees in the U.S. continues. There seems to be a sharp division<\/a> within civil society, the media and public opinion as to the best course of action toward refugees. <\/p>\n

But my research<\/a> shows that there is room for building a middle ground, where both American aspirations to welcome refugees and security concerns can be reconciled.<\/p>\n

Ambivalent views<\/h2>\n

The American public has always been ambivalent regarding refugees. Although public discourses tend to emphasize pride in the U.S. tradition of receiving refugees, studies<\/a> have highlighted that, at critical times in history \u2013 like when many Indochinese migrants arrived in the 1970s, and Cubans in 1980 \u2013 majorities felt uneasy about, if not opposed to, receiving large numbers of refugees. Yet, the U.S. has consistently ranked among the countries that resettled the most refugees. <\/p>\n