Following the brutal and bloody terror attacks in Paris on Friday, governors of more than a dozen U.S. states have issued statements that their states will not accept any Syrian refugees, or they will suspend the resettlement programs temporarily. 

In North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory has called a news conference in Charlotte to address the Syrian refugee resettlement program in the United States, according to The News & Observer. Several state legislators have asked McCrory to refuse to accept any Syrian refugees to North Carolina and to deport the 59 of them who live in the state. 

The strong reactions from several governors regarding accepting Syrian refugees were the result of President Barack Obama insisting on implementing the resettlement program and not agreeing to decrease the number of refugees. The Atlantic reported that Jeb Bush, a GOP presidential hopeful, called for a straightforward religious screening on Syrian refugees. He said the U.S.’ effort should focus on protecting Syrian Christians. In his address to the G20 summit, Obama called Bush’s idea of screening Syrian refugees based on religion “shameful.” 

Screening refugees based on religious reasons indeed is un-American and it’s unlikely to eliminate potential threats to the U.S. But there are always trade-offs between benefits and costs. Benevolence and generosity should not come at the cost of bringing fear to state residents and local communities. 

As the so-called Islamic State accepted responsibility for the Paris attack and released video footage claiming assaults on Washington D.C. will be carried out, it is impossible to comfort the public unless the government takes serious action to prevent potential plans of attacks. The Obama administration should consider at least suspending the resettlement program due to this urgent event. 

Obama and his supporters argued that the national security team and immigration agency would demand more details and background checks for each individual refugee who comes to the U.S. There’s no doubt that not all Muslims are radical extremists. But admittedly, never before in history have there been organized and large-scale terror attacks carried out by a group of people who claim to be Muslim. In a statement admitting responsibility, Islamic State cited verses from the Qur’an justifying the violence as a “blessing.” 

The technical problem of accepting refugees boils down to how the security teams are able to identify the hidden information of Muslims leaning toward extremism. Interviewing and background-checking are important on one hand; on the other hand, even if Muslims currently have no intention of joining extremist groups, there’s still a possibility that they might be radicalized in the future. Notice that the brothers who conducted the Boston marathon bombing were radicalized after they settled in the U.S. Also, the French police identified that one of the attackers was a French citizen, and several of them went to Europe disguised as refugees in the summer. 

Following the administration’s policy, national security agencies are able to interview, interrogate, check backgrounds and monitor the refugees’ daily activities after they are permitted to enter the U.S. But that is still a paradox of the idea of liberty, and un-American. It is equivalent to saying that refugees are allowed to enter the U.S., but are restricted to living in internment camps. If the U.S. government does not give civil liberties to the Syrian refugees and spends taxpayer money on the process of accepting them, why still accept them? 

The fabric of a civil society with individual liberty is trust. A trust that is embedded in every person’s heart: that a civil society is about respecting life, caring for the weak and embracing individual liberty. Once this trust is violated by those who don’t agree, the fabric is torn apart, and the public would fear a religion or a group as a whole. This is what has led to the great distrust of Syrian refugees around the world right now. It is a kind notion, but not an obligation to help them all, especially when local communities start to fear.