Arab America E-News Lists '10 Things More Likely To Kill You Than A Refugee'

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - Are cows, corks and gun-toting toddlers more dangerous than refugees?

That's the argument behind a lighthearted article headlining an e-newsletter sent by ArabAmerica.com on Wednesday.

The ten "more dangerous" things listed, in order, are: Drinking milk or cows themselves, champagne corks, toddlers with guns, racism, riding lawnmowers, getting struck by lightning, dog attacks, your own bed, car crashes and choking on your food.

The featured article — by contributing writers Zachary Tarrant and Kristina Perry — includes a photo side-show and sites figures released by the Migration Policy Institute asserting that the actual prevalence of extremism amongst the American refugee population since 2001 has been "a paltry" .00000375 percent.

"Paltry might not even quite capture the miniscule nature of this figure," the article states. "Only 3 refugees out of the 800,000 admitted in that 15 year span has been connected to terrorist activities. Only one has actually been convicted."

[Read the complete article here].

Nisreen Eadeh, Communications Coordinator for ArabAmerica.com said Tarrant, who is an intern with the online publication, came up with the idea for the post.

"He was looking for something to write about given last weekend's recent attacks on Syrian refugees after the Orlando shootings — which really didn't make any sense since the shooter was American-born," she told CBS Detroit.

"So he thought: What should be actually banned in this country? What's a real danger?"

Eadeh said they had a laugh around the office about the article.

"We all thought it was really funny and clever," she said, "because we're so used to the Syrian American community, and we've never had problems with them, of course."

"It's just like ridiculous things that people should put a little more hate toward other than these groups of people who are just trying to seek refuge and safety in a new home."

The piece concludes, in part: "Nonsensical? Of course this article was. But it digs at a deeper point. Our fears surrounding the possibility of fully vetted refugee committing a terrorist act are simply unfounded."

According to the site's "About" page, ArabAmerica.com is a national website founded "with the purpose of promoting an accurate image about the Arab American community and the Arab world."

The e-blast is sent to a reported 100,000-plus recipients each week.