UN High Commissioner says anti-Syrian refugee rhetoric helps extremists

Antonio Guterres.
(Image credit: JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images)

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Monday that those who "reject Syrian refugees, and especially if they are Muslim, are the best allies of the propaganda and the recruitment of extremist groups."

It was a veiled reference to people like Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who proposed banning foreign Muslims from entering the United States. "We must not forget that — despite the rhetoric we are hearing these days — refugees are the first victims of such terror, not its source," Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council. "They cannot be blamed for a threat which they're risking their lives to escape."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.