In the West, right-wing politicians have equated refugees with terrorism, suggesting they are a threat to peace and security. But the reality is quite the opposite.
In Germany, an average of 10 attacks per day were carried out against refugees or refugee shelters in 2016, according to statistics released by the country's interior ministry reported by The Independent. There were more than 3,500 attacks on refugees and asylum hostels last year.
These attacks left 560 people – including 43 children – injured.
"We're seeing nearly 10 [criminal] acts a day," Ulla Jelpke, a German MP told local media, blaming anti-migrant violence on supporters of far-right political movements.
"Nazis are threatening refugees and therefore our democracy," she said.
The German government continues to voice its support for refugees.
"People who have fled their home country and seek protection in Germany have the right to expect safe shelter," Germany's interior ministry said, according to Al Jazeera.
In the wake of the Syrian conflict, Germany has taken in more than a million refugees between 2015 and 2016. Many neo-Nazi and far-right groups have spouted xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric against German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open arms policy, saying refugees will commit terror attacks and violent crimes.
But, as the statistics show, this vulnerable group has actually been the victim of an alarming rate of violent crimes. At least two terrorist attacks were committed by asylum seekers in Germany in 2016, one from Tunisia and another from Syria, but that's significantly less than a whopping 10 attacks per day against refugees.
Some right-wing Germans have even invented fake stories about refugees committing assaults in an effort to fuel xenophobic sentiments in the country.
Two people invented a fake story about a sexual assault by Arab immigrants in Frankfurt. The incident was widely reported by local media but when police investigated, they found one of the reported victims was not even in the city at the time of the fake attack.
German prosecutors are now investigating those who fabricated the story.
Despite statistics demonstrating that refugees are not a serious threat to society, many Western leaders have taken a hardline stance against them. Americans are statistically hundreds of times more likely to be killed by their own beds than by a refugee, and that's only one example.
Regardless, U.S. President Donald Trump has infamously been attempting to ban refugees and immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries, but has faced significant legal and popular backlash.