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If America had closed its doors to Syrians, there'd be no Steve Jobs and no Apple

A Banksy mural in a refugee camp in Calais, France.
A Banksy mural in a refugee camp in Calais, France.
Banksy

In recent months, discussions of Syrian migrants have happened mostly in negative terms. Critics have warned that refugees could be an economic drain on taxpayer resources and — above all — that some Syrian refugees could actually be terrorists allied with ISIS — though the evidence suggests that these dangers are greatly exaggerated.

The latest work by graffiti artist Banksy encourages us to look at the other side of the coin. The image, painted near a refugee camp in Calais, France, depicts Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, whose biological father was born in Syria. If Jobs's father, Abdulfattah Jandali, had not been allowed to come to the United States, there would have been no Steve Jobs, no Apple, and no iPhone.

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