On Nov. 13 of this year, at 9:20pm local time, the country of France, and iconic capital Paris, endured some of its worst hours since 1944 at the end of World War II.

Two men, loaded with suicide bombs, attempted to blow up the Stade de France stadium. After this it was reported that armed men stormed the Bataclan Concert Hall where American band Eagles of Death Metal was playing. Attackers fired indiscriminately into fans with machine guns. Witnesses reported the attackers blamed French president Francois Hollande for damage to Muslims all over the world. The terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant quickly claimed responsibility for these attacks, which killed at least 153 people and wounded many others.

Two of the people killed were American citizens. One was the Merchandise Manager of the band playing at the Bataclan. The other was a student studying abroad.

These attacks happened amid an ongoing refugee crisis. It has become clear that at least one of the attackers was a Syrian refugee. History teacher Ria VanRyn shared her thoughts.

“This will have a huge effect on the refugee crisis. Attacks and events like this make people scared and that will have a huge influence on their decisions on the [refugee crisis] topic,” said VanRyn. The hoards of Syrians fleeing a civil war may be supplying western Europe with jihadists. The U.S. is expected to receive up to 10,000 of these refugees by next year.

Senior Hima Kancharla thinks the events should not have an impact on how we handle the refugee crisis.

“We have a lot of room here. There is a small risk of terrorists but I think, more than anything, the people fleeing are good and non-violent,” said Kancharla.

Others believe that by letting in refugees we open ourselves up to attacks. In some regards they are right. The wife of the shooter, who killed 14 in San Bernardino, California on the 2nd of December, pledged allegiance to ISIL on her facebook page the day of the shooting.

Throughout the world foreign leaders and diplomats have been stating their solidarity with France.  Along with leaders, social media companies like Snapchat and Instagram tried to raise awareness. Snapchat had a filter saying, “Pray for Paris,” with a background of the French flag. Junior Thomas Godsil thinks these strategies may help.

“ I didn’t take part in that but it definitely helps bring about awareness for events like this,” said Godsil.

With the Presidential election coming up one candidate in particular has voiced his opinion, “I would bomb the s*** out of ISIS,” said Donald Trump at a rally in Iowa.

“If anything that would just make ISIS more vigilant,” said Godsil. ISIL has become more vigilant and daring recently. Just the day before the Paris tragedy, ISIL militants carried out attacks in Beirut, Lebanon killing around 43 people.

Since the attacks the U.S has promised its full support of France. In a speech the night of the attacks President Obama called it, “an attack on all of humanity.” He also vowed that the U.S. would do whatever it takes to bring those responsible to justice. Currently the U.S. is leading a coalition bombing campaign on various ISIL leaders and strongholds.

Kancharla thinks the U.S. should have minimal involvement in taking down ISIL at this point.

“We should just stay out of it. They haven’t attacked us directly yet,” said Kancharla.

Others have voiced their opinions that attacking Daesh (ISIL) directly will minimize the risk of attack on the U.S.

She does think the U.S. should continue their support of France though, “We should be supporting France in any way that we can. They need to be able to protect themselves,” said Kancharla.

Since the attacks France and Belgium have both staged raids to arrest suspects of the attacks. At this point eight of the assailants have been killed, including the mastermind behind the attacks, and many of their associates arrested. French officials have also confiscated weapons including rocket launchers and assault rifles.

No matter what the U.S. involvement will be it is undeniable that this is a tragedy that resonated around the world. It also shows us a new era of ISIL’s campaign as they expand out of the Middle East.