In the American debate over whether President Barack Obama should intervene militarily in Syria or adopt a Russian proposal to eliminate the country’s chemical weapons, there is one important group that has received insufficient attention: Syria’s approximately 2 million refugees and 4.25 million internally displaced citizens. Many observers expect that a military strike on the Assad regime would exacerbate this refugee crisis. But even if an attack actually relieved the crisis, Washington’s policies toward the refugees would remain woefully inadequate.

The United States has long offered sanctuary for those fleeing political persecution or humanitarian crises. During World War II, the U.S. accepted 250,000 refugees fleeing the war in Europe. In 1948, Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act, which allowed an additional 400,000 war refugees to come to our shores. Since then, the United States has continued to provide safe harbor: An estimated 3 million refugees have resettled here since 1975.

Syrians fleeing the war or trying to avoid going home to it, however, have not experienced such kindness. In early 2012, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) petitioned for Temporary Protective Status (TPS) for Syrians already here on visas. Within 60 days Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano granted TPS status to Syrians, enabling them to join citizens of seven other countries who fear natural disasters or violent conflicts at home. This status allowed Syrian immigrants to stay for an additional 15 months. In June of this year, the Department of Homeland Security redesignated TPS status for Syria, extending the period until March 2015 -- a sign that the U.S. government believed the Syrian conflict would not end any time soon. According to Abed A. Ayoub, legal director of the ADC, nearly 4,000 TPS applications have been approved to date, out of around 8,000 eligible Syrians here. Many applications are still being processed, but, according to Ayoub, “nobody’s getting deported to Syria” because of visa overstays -- a recognition by the Obama administration of the dire humanitarian situation there.

Although extension of TPS status has undoubtedly helped those already in the U.S., Syrians seeking to come here have not been so fortunate. Late last month, the Obama administration decided to accept 2,000 refugees, up from the 90 or so Syrian refugees who had been permanently admitted to the U.S. during the conflict. Significant indeed, although even this small number of applications will take months to process. “We’re not likely to see Syrian refugees in those numbers (until) well into 2014,” said Kelly Clements, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for population, refugees, and migration, about the waiting times. According to Ayoub, more than 1,000 Syrians applied for asylum in the United States in the third quarter of 2013 alone, and many more are likely unable to get the proper documentation to even apply.