Sanctuary...

"Overnight we had become really poor; we had become refugees. A refugee not only has no country, he also has no rights. He is a displaced person. At times he feels like a parcel which has been mailed and is moved from place to place."

This is a quote from Maria von Trapp, who I am sure you are familiar with from The Sound of Music. Because her husband refused to fly the Nazi flag, or take a naval command with the Nazis, the family had to leave Austria. 
Most people love the scene in the Sound of Music where the family travels over the Alps into Switzerland and freedom. They are finding a life where they can be safe, and far from the Nazis. It is a beautiful picture.

But they are refugees. They are leaving their country, and guess what...they came to the States (through Italy...not Switzerland. And they took the train, they didn't climb the mountain with all of their luggage...and they told their family and friends that they were going to the US for a tour...but hey...). They moved here and lived the rest of their lives here. 
Maybe you say, yeah, but they were useful people. They had skills, and they had something to give to our country. But Georg was also a retired Naval hero who had been offered a position with the German Navy. Who was to say that he hadn't secretly accepted an offer to become a Nazi spy who would then infiltrate the US? They had children who could have easily been part of Hitler Youth, helping their Father as spies. 
Just because men are military age, that does not mean that they want to be in the military. The von Trapp sons actually enlisted in the US military, and became naturalized citizens as a result. 

Why is it that we don't mind refugees like this? They wouldn't necessarily even risk their lives by staying in Austria. But they left for better lives. Just like many of the refugees coming into Europe and the States right now. They are people with lives and dreams and the desire to live somewhere that they can be safe. They have things to offer to the countries in which they settle, and to those of us who meet them and give them a chance. Is it because there wasn't the fear of terrorism in those days? Probably not the case, as World War II was when between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were placed in internment camps in the States. 62 percent of these people were already US citizens, and this internment has been determined to have been caused by racism and discrimination by white Americans, rather than because of any actual threat they posed to the country. 
Terrorism, or the fear of it, was alive and well during those times. So was racism. It reminds me of the Mob Song from Beauty and the Beast. Yes, I can find a song to fit almost anything...

One line of the song says, "We don't like what we don't understand, in fact it scares us, and this monster is mysterious at least." 
They sing that line, and then they go tramping through the forest to the castle of the Beast in order to kill him. Belle tries to convince them that he is harmless, but they don't want to believe her. They decide that the Beast is scary, just because they say he is, and they care about nothing other than killing him. 
I've seen a lot of mob mentality lately. Mostly on facebook. Holy heck is that place ever a mess. You have your mobs on both sides, and so many people hate other people. We're coming into a season of Thanks and Love, and 75% of what you see on facebook is rants about how we need to nuke every Muslim, or how refugees are terrorists. And all of the animosity directed not only at the people you're scared of, but also the people you disagree with. Friends and families are divided and at each other's throats. 
See refugees as people. See those you argue with on fb as people. We're supposed to love people. To the point that we would lay down our lives for others. No matter what colour they are, and regardless of whether or not we understand them.