What Should We Call Those Migrant Refugee Immigrants Seeking Asylum?

September 24, 2015 By
Words matter, and the U.S. media has been struggling to settle on what to call all those folks seeking to leave a very bad place in hopes of a better life. Actually, that would not qualify for “refugee” status, which requires a human to be fleeing war zones or natural disasters. Migrant is a wider net, but loses some of the urgency. “Immigration” carries its own weight. Those seeking asylum, with those political overtones, are yet another situation.

The NPR ombudsman offered an on-air outline of how that standards-leading group approaches the wording. The one thing that seems clear is that just leaving a place because it sucks does not gain the benefits of other status.

See the report here: ‘Refugee’ Or ‘Migrant’: How To Refer To Those Fleeing Home

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US Increases Cap On Accepting Refugees

September 21, 2015 By
Photo from The New York Times 9/21 article. They report "Migrants in Bregana, Croatia, near the border with Slovenia. Authorities in Slovenia on Sunday were halting migrants at its border with Croatia to the south and allowing them to pass in small groups."

Photo from The New York Times 9/21 article. They report “Migrants in Bregana, Croatia, near the border with Slovenia. Authorities in Slovenia on Sunday were halting migrants at its border with Croatia to the south and allowing them to pass in small groups.”

Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in Germany, announced that the United States will increase the number of “worldwide” refugees it will accept until it reaches 100,00 per year in 2017. That is up from the current annual cap of 70,000. The move is in reaction to the high-profile crisis involving European migration and there was no conversation about how the than 400,000 pending immigration cases, many of which involve refugee status claims, might be effected.
 
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Drowned Syrian Toddler Should Prompt Look Closer To Home

September 3, 2015 By
Images of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, one of at least 12 Syrians who drowned trying to flee that war-torn region, have broken through the news clutter to actually shock the world. But they should also remind us that
AP photo used in Tampa Bay Times report on 12/22/14 shows "Young detainees sleep in a holding cell on June 18, 2014, at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Brownsville,Texas."

AP photo used in Tampa Bay Times report on 12/22/14 shows “Young detainees sleep in a holding cell on June 18, 2014, at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Brownsville,Texas.”

the United States has a refugee crisis of its own, and a federal judge has ordered the “family detention camps” closed later this month because they are illegal. The immigration courts are swamped, cases are backed up for years and thousands of “border kids” are in dangerous limbo.
 
To refresh your memory from when our domestic crisis was seizing the world stage, look here:
 
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