UN Official: Refusing Refugees Helps Extremists Recruit

Countries that deny refugees entry help the Islamic State group recruit members, said the U.N. high commissioner for refugees on Monday.

“When people say they cannot receive Syrian refugees because they are Muslims, those that say it are supporting terrorist organisations and allowing them to be much more effective in recruitment of people," said Antonio Guterres, who is also the former prime minister of Portugal and president of the Socialist International, in a news conference.

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Guterres was speaking directly to rising xenophobic parties in Europe and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent comments against Muslim immigrants.

"We must not forget that—despite the rhetoric we are hearing these days—refugees are the first victims of such terror, not its source," Guterres said. "They cannot be blamed for a threat which they're risking their lives to escape."

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The five-year civil war in Syria has made it the country with the most refugees: over 4.3 million to date, and 7.6 million internally displaced. On Tuesday, the International Organization of Migration reported that 1 million refugees entered Europe this year, many of them escaping war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Some politicians link the arrival of refugees with terrorist attacks, but Guterres said that most terrorism is homegrown. Last month, the U.S. house of representatives approved a bill to limit the number of Syrian refugees entering the country in light of the Paris attacks. The European Union also escalated surveillance and border control.

Guterres noted that most of those fleeing Syria have at least a high school education, and that the country’s brain drain will have “disastrous consequences” on reconstruction.