Refugees

“We have lost everything; our homes have been stolen, looted, destroyed, and burned. There is nothing left for us there, to return for,” said an Iraqi Christian who fled to Jordan.

With the West on the run, increased activity by terrorists, and the Taliban inexorably exerting control across the country, we need to be aware of what is happening to real people, right now in Afghanistan.

To renew our national spirit, we must rebuild our refugee resettlement program.

The brutalities endured by Burma’s Rohingya—the country’s most vulnerable population—were bad even before the recent coup. The US response must take their plight into account, or risk making it even worse.

If Pakistan takes such great lengths to “protect” Islam and its Muslim citizens, it should also seek to protect fellow Muslims abroad who are the victims of ethnic cleansing, oppression, or persecution.

World Refugee Day is an appropriate time to reflect on how policymakers should address these challenges while ensuring refugees have religious freedom.

During the two first years of the Trump administration, the number of Christian refugees resettled in the US has dropped by more than 40 percent.

Many Venezuelan refugees have settled in the Brazilian state Roraima. While the government has been supportive of the refugees, xenophobic incidents have occurred in recent weeks. As Brazil’s general elections are less than a month away, the question of what to do with these “others” has also become an electoral tool.

An estimated 10 percent of Venezuela’s population has fled the country, putting stress on other governments in Latin America since these nations still have their own challenges.