The civil war in Syria has become one of the worst humanitarian disasters of this decade, which has already displaced more than 11 million people who are seeking sanctuary as refugees in other countries.

The conflict began in March 2011, and the fighting has only gotten worse. More than 220,000 people have been killed, and of those, at least half were civilians.

“It’s a worldwide crisis that a lot of countries like Great Britain, France, Germany, and other European countries are struggling with,” said Zeb Rollins, an Advertising/Public Relations, and Applied Communications major at WTAMU. “Germany has already began to close their borders because they are at max capacity and the rest of Europe is trying to figure out what to do.”

“It’s a terrible situation in Syria and you just hope that the Syrian refugees can get some help,” said Anthony Miller, an Electronic Media major at WTAMU. “I’m glad the world and the United States are stepping in to provide relief for these people.”

Everyone agrees that that some sort of aid is needed to help the refugees, which has now become a global problem.

“These are people in need of help, do you help people because they need help and to me yes (you do),” said Jessie Story, a graduate student in Communication at WTAMU. “Several nations have taken on a large number of refugees and it’s a madhouse.”

One of the concerns of the refugees being granted entry into other nations is the threat of ISIS insurgents posing as refugees. ISIS has already released a statement claiming that over 4000 insurgents have been smuggled into western nations and are ready to strike when called upon.

“Everything you’ve seen from ISIS, watching them killing people, and the stories you hear about them, it’s a scary thing that you don’t want being brought into the United States,” said Miller.

The threat of ISIS, however, doesn’t convince all not to help.

“I don’t think that should be a factor to not help refugees because if it was another issue, ISIS would be all over it,” Story said.

President Obama announced that he will allow 10,000 vetted refugees to enter the United States in the next year to try and help the over-whelmed countries that have been flooded with refugees.

“I think 10,000 is a good number. I know that some of the president’s critics have said that it is too low of a number, but when you factor in how far we are from Syria, 10,000 is a good starting point,” said Rollins.

“It’s great that the United States is getting involved and we should help these people, but at the same time President Obama has to think about U.S. citizens,” said Miller. “What if some of these refugees are from ISIS and now they have a foothold in the United States?”

Texas is expected to absorb some of the refugees coming into the United States. There were a lot of refugees who came to Texas after the Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. Today, Syria is the largest refugee population in the world.

“I think growing up in America, it’s a lot easier to take for granted having a stable life, not having your family displaced,” said Story. “I know six months from now, my reality of this campus is going to be the same.”