Your Opinion: Vote inconsistent with holiday ideal

Dear Editor:

Republican Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer co-sponsored legislation passed by the U.S. House on Nov. 19 that could stop plans to admit Syrian refugees into the United State.

I assume Rep. Luetkemeyer will skip the turkey, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving as a result.

It would be quite hypocritical to vote against accepting refugees who are fleeing violence and persecution and then join holiday festivities celebrating refugees who fled violence and persecution.

Entering the U.S. as a refugee is already a difficult, strenuous process. Terrorists - like those responsible for the attacks in 2001 - can find many easier ways to come here.

Meanwhile, we should open our land and our hearts for those who are suffering the most from IS: Syrian refugees.

When President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation in 1863 that set a national day of Thanksgiving that we still follow, he urged people to give thanks to God for "deliverances and blessings" and to offer prayers for "all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or suffers" as a result of the Civil War. We should show the same concern today for the refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria.

As I sit around the Thanksgiving table, I will give thanks for blessings of this year and I will say a prayer for refugees around the world.

I will also pray that lawmakers like Rep. Luetkemeyer will stop peddling fear to demonize innocent refugees.