Welcome back to the show.
Unless you were busy this week with the battle over Vanity
Fair, you know that the battle over Aleppo
is causing a humanitarian nightmare.
To the Assad regime, Russia, and Iran,
is there literally nothing that can shame you?
Oh, honey, look who you're asking.
But we found some people who do have
empathy for victims of war.
Allana Harkin has more.
While Syria continues its descent into hell,
our leaders and pundits have been stoking outrage
with a divisive message aimed at halting
the flow of Syrian refugees into our country.
Thousands of refugees are being admitted.
Even as our own veterans, our great, great veterans, die.
President Obama wants to spend billions
of dollars bringing Syrian refugees to this country.
What about the millions of homeless, many of them
veterans.
We are spending on these 10,000 refugees
while we leave our vets homeless.
- We don't help our vets. - Veterans.
- Refugees. - Veterans.
- Veterans. - Refugees.
Just who's going to get that big part of government cheddar?
I brought some refugees and vets together
to have them battle it out.
Taking money from the refugee resettlement program
would not give money to Veterans Affairs.
And to make it seem like, by refugees not coming in,
suddenly veterans problems will be fixed, it's very inaccurate.
Oh, so why have they been pitted against each other?
People like to use veterans as political props,
often for issues that are not representative of our values
or what we care about.
Which is why these vets formed Veterans for American Ideals
to fight Islamophobia and lobby for refugees
like Mohamed, Hassan, and Ahed.
As veterans, we lived among the population,
and we saw the struggle they faced.
We saw the violence they faced.
It's absolutely important to take care of veterans.
It's also pretty important to take care of refugees.
This is very American.
An American value.
Yeah.
The symbol of this country is not
barbwire and walls, but rather the Statue of Liberty.
Yes, but she is surrounded by a moat and a wall.
And she's carrying fire. - Yeah.
She's also wearing that crown that kind
of looks like the throne from the "Game of Thrones."
Which is how she looked to Jewish refugees in 1939.
Hey, maybe Trump's just a student of American history.
I wish he just give us opportunity
as he give his family, which was also immigrants.
So maybe Trump just needs to marry all the refugees.
But if plural marriage isn't your thing,
just think of refugees like this.
You hear the people coming here, they don't work,
they don't pay taxes.
Like no, I pay taxes.
I've been paying for five years, just like anybody else.
Can I see your tax returns?
Of course.
I'll release those to you immediately.
That was a trick question.
Really successful Americans say, I'm getting audited.
They're not coming for your welfare, everybody,
they're already working.
Syrians start businesses at almost four times
the national rate, while refugees
in general revitalize struggling cities.
And if you don't care about taxes and jobs,
kebabs are fucking delicious.
This seems really basic.
What's the problem?
Ronald Reagan thought of America
as the shining city on a hill.
You don't get to be the shining city on the hill
by cowering in fear and putting your head in the sand when
things are difficult. If we want to be the kind of nation
that people around the world will respect,
we have to actually live those ideals.
And it's not just something that's only up to vets
to try and push forward.
I think that's an obligation common to citizenship.
Also, write your congressman.
Volunteer with a resettlement agency.
Meet a refugee?
That's a great idea, Allana Harkin.
So I deployed myself to meet some Syrian refugees who
were volunteering their time in Seattle and Newark
helping-- wait for it-- homeless veterans.
Definitely they are here to work and help
with the community, because they are not
used to take things for free.
They used to work hard for it.
OK, they're gonna have to get over that.
We really like things for free.
Have you ever seen a group of Americans
around a lot of gift bags?
Although in other ways, they're a lot like us already.
Are you just doing this for your college application?
Yeah.
You are smart.
And for the vets here, it's really pretty simple.
I think that our country is great because of the fact
that we're a mixing pot, that all are welcome.
It's always been that way.
And these guys should have their freedoms,
and I'm glad they're here.
Turning people away is not the answer.
People just want to work.
People want to come in just like the people before them came in,
and get a fresh, new, safe start.
You're very welcoming.
I am.
But it's something I don't own, I just share it.
America.
Make America share again.
That might even fit on a hat.
We'll be right back.
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