Syrians fleeing violence have nowhere to go as countries turn them away, fearing a surplus of immigrants—through unemployment, overcrowding and terrorism—will bring only trouble to their country in the wake of the Paris attacks orchestrated by the Islamic State of Iraq, better known as ISIS. This should not be an excuse to victimize innocent Muslims because of the actions of terrorists, but this truth is not apparent to some.

“They’re the same type of refugees in Germany and taking over Germany now. I don’t want them to be doing that here,” John S. ‘17 said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations defines Islamophobia as “close-minded prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims.” The phenomenon is a negative reflection on the Muslim population based on violent acts of radical terrorist groups. These feelings have been built up from the Palestinian group Black September, who killed and took hostage of several Israeli Olympic staff members during the 1972 Munich Olympics, according to nps.gov, to the present-day ISIS, the extremist organization responsible for the recent Paris attacks.

However, the falling of the Twin Towers sparked Islamophobia’s most notable uptick. The media and government made discrimination of Muslims almost commonplace at the time, misbranding the tragedy as an “Islamic attack” rather than a “terrorist attack on the U.S.,” World History teacher Daniel Harris said.

An approximate 3,000 people—from all ideologies, including Muslims with no involvement in the attacks—died in the Sept. 11 tragedy, according to cnn.com.

Since then, terrorist attacks worldwide are claimed by whichever “Islamic fundamentalist” terrorist group holds the most power. Although these groups rise and fall, the impact of these catastrophes extremists claim take a negative toll on the daily lives of a majority of peaceful Muslims.

“Every terror attack claimed by a group related to Islam is a further hit to Islam relations with the United States or even social discrimination against Islamic people,” Harris said.

With the growing death toll worldwide caused by ever-present militant groups, it is easy to blame an entire religion or culture for the actions of one organization spilling blood in the name of Allah. It is easy to scrutinize Muslims at home, when innocent people—many of them holding a peaceful interpretation of the same faith as their assailants—are dying at the hands of those committing heinous acts in the name of their religion.

“After big terrorist attacks or events that portray Islam negatively, [I receive] a bit more questioning looks,” Junior Faiz J. said.

While anti-Muslim backlash is not shown in statistics to increase after such terrorist attacks, Islamophobic sentiment does seem to do so.

“They keep arguing that they’re peaceful, but I guess people and their religion are making it worse,” John said.

A 2011 Pew Research Center study found 55 percent of the average Muslim public abroad opposes all violence (including suicide bombings) against civilians in any form. An average 38 percent of this same group held terrorist group al-Qaeda in low esteem. But not everyone is open to the idea of Muslims being anything but violent.

“They’re still from their own country. They can be protected over there; we don’t need to house them,” John said.

The trouble is, the refugees fleeing Syria are leaving their country because the Syrian government can’t protect them from the warfare tearing the land apart, or the terrors along with it.

Muslims in the aforementioned study who were also U.S. citizens held much stronger opposition against terrorist views. Eighty six percent of U.S. Muslims agree suicide bombing “is never justified,” and 81 percent “viewed al-Qaeda unfavorably” in some form.

“In my case, no one expects me to fill a stereotype. [The idea is] we’re terrorists, we’re dirty,” Faiz said. “[Others] are aware that [Islamophobia] exists, but they don’t know what it’s like.”

In a 2010 Gallup poll, Muslims were the most likely to experience discrimination because of their religion or race.

“I imagine if you were white, you would be treated a bit differently,” Faiz said.

A study found white Americans were the greatest “terror threat in the U.S., killing more people in attacks than Muslims or any other group in the last 14 years,” according to independent.co.uk.

Despite suspicions about the trustworthiness of Muslims, John does not think all Muslims are the same.

“Everybody is pretty much equal, in the end,” John said.

It’s a belief many share, but don’t practice. A 2013 University of Hawaii study revealed Muslim women who wore traditional headscarves had less employment opportunities in comparison to those who did not.

“My mom wears a hijab, or a headscarf, and people don’t treat her the same as most other women. I don’t think it’s because of her color; I think it’s solely because of the headscarf,” Faiz said.

While a headscarf may be easier to target, dangerous assumptions are still made based on skin color and ethnicity. Two months ago, Texas freshman Ahmed Mohamed brought a homemade clock to MacArthur High School and was arrested on charges of bringing a “hoax bomb” to school, according to cnn.com. While charges were dropped, Mohamed no longer felt welcome at the public school and transferred elsewhere.

“They’ve got the same opportunities, it’s whether they decide to take it or not,” John said.

But those opportunities are not exactly in reach when people use the actions of the few to discriminate against all Muslims. Assuming all Muslims are radical suicide bombers perpetuates the “phobia” on both sides of the argument, and widens the divide between Muslims and everyone else.

For a timeline of terror attacks go here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/timeline-of-terror-attacks-in-past-20-years-1420662841