Antelope High School

Home of the Titans

Principal, John Becker
Phone: (916)782-6565 ext. 1047

Anela Jen-Mausisa
7801 Titan Drive
Antelope Ca, 95843

Governor Jerry Brown

c/o State Capital, Suite 1173
Sacramento, Ca 95814

To Whom It May Concern:

"This is a movie we've seen before; and it's sort of unfortunate, but it has a curious sameness
across time, which doesn't make it better" (The Associated Press). In other words, history is repeating
itself regarding the refusal of refugees and we are not helping in any way to stop it. My name is Anela
Jen-Mausisa and I am currently a student attending Antelope High School. Current laws having to do
with refugees and whether to accept them or not are not clearly a yes or no to the posing question, I
think that we as an immigrant country should accept refugees; after all they are people in need and it
would be a shame to neglect them of a helping hand. Not admitting refugees to our country would
potentially make us as horrible as the terrorists in Syria, we would be responsible for the innocent
peoples deaths that we could have prevented.
My knowledge of the current refugee situation is that the United States is acting ambivalently
toward the decision to accept them into the country. More and more of the U.S. population is arguing
to reject refugees and not admit them access to the country. While the people who side with denying
refugees holds a strong argument, the side that desires to accept the refugees is just as powerful.
In comparison to the refugee crisis during WWII, the situation now regarding Syrian refugees
is quite similar. Back during WWII America had refused Jewish refugees from entering the U.S. as a
safe home country for many reasons. The United States feared that German spies would hide amongst
the Jews to get information for Hitlers own use. U.S. citizens also did not trust that 100% of the
people seeking refuge would follow the countrys laws and have the U.S. in their best interest. The
citizens of the United States later regretted there decisions to reject the people in need when they
found out more than half of the Jewish population ended up being executed for no good reason. The
tragic event of the Holocaust led the United States to feel a deep sorrow and feeling of regret for not
being welcoming to the Jews who needed to escape Germany. Likewise, Syrias civil war taking place
in todays world results in a flooding amount of Syrian refugees wishing to escape to America. The
U.S. government continually expresses their regret for not accepting refugees back in WWII and say
they have learned a lesson from the devastating time in history but then go and juxtapose themselves
and refuse Syrian refugees now. We are making the same mistake that we made in the past that
supposedly we had learned from and yet denial of refugees clearly presents to the world that we in
fact, have not learned from our mistakes. The more intelligent decision would be to save the dead
bodies and welcome refugees into our country.
To make my point clear, I do not agree with the current policies regarding refugees. I do agree
with the fact that refugees must go through a difficult and highly challenging process to eve be let into
the country but what I do not agree with is that many, over half, of the U.S. population is fighting to
not accept refugees at all. Those people are completely ignoring the fact that America is an immigrant

4635 Elverta Road, Antelope, CA 95843

 Antelope High School
Home of the Titans
Principal, John Becker
Phone: (916)782-6565 ext. 1047

country! It is our destiny to accept all people and all ethnicities and to
think people think otherwise makes me sick to my stomach.
Basically, the U.S. has some controversial policies regarding refugees, and specifically at this
time, Syrian refugees. It is wrong and shameful of us to not accept with full enthusiasm the Syrian
refugees; all they want and need is a safe place to live and to get away from war. They do not want to
bring war! To pose an alternative process of voting for or against refugees, I would suggest focusing
more on the emotional aspect of accepting refugees. For example, if you were an innocent and hopeful
refugee wouldnt you want a safe and powerful country to accept you? I definitely would. Therefore I
once again am letting you know, refugees are important, their lives are just as cherished and ours so
we should put forward our best effort to fight for them; not against. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Anela Jen-Mausisa
Antelope High School Student
Respectful. Responsible. Proud
GO TITANS!

4635 Elverta Road, Antelope, CA 95843