Refugees: Syrian and Central American; the shame of the USA; with a look back to 1939

 
There are:
 
100,000 Syrian refuges in Europe.
 
600,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan
 
600,000 + Syrian refugees in the Lebanon
 
212,000  Syrian refugees in Iraq  (in Kurdish controlled areas)
 
670,000 Syrian refuges in Turkey.
 
(Numbers from the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy).
 
PLEASE NOTE

Europe  (i.e. the European Community) has mixed a religious population, viz mostly Roman Catholic and Protestant  (many of these are nominally Catholic and Protestant but do not have an active religious practice) , with minority Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims -  and a heck of a lot of agnostics/atheists!)

Jordan has a majority Muslim population.

Lebanon (for political reasons) has not had a religious census since 1932.  The best recent
guess-timate is that the Lebanese population is 40% Christian, 54% Muslim, and 6% Druze.

Syrian refugees are being sheltered by their religious allies i.e.

 Christian Syrians (there are many) in Christian Lebanese areas,
 
Sunni Syrians in Lebanese Sunni areas,
 
Shia Syrians in Lebanese Shia area.

Because of the complicated (yeah even Byzantine) nature of the Lebanese government it does not recognize any of these Syrians as bona-fide refugees  (there are many apple carts in Lebanon which, if turned over would create political chaos!)
 
 
The Kurds of Iraq are mostly Muslims (with a tiny minority of all manner of religious beliefs and practices!)

Turkey is officially a secular State but the vast majority of Turks practice Islam.

==============================================================

So there you have it.  Some 2.2 million Syrians are refugees: those  who have fled the murder and violence of the brutal uprising/civil war in Syria,

Most of these refugees are being sheltered (at considerable costs)  in Muslim (or majority Muslim) States and areas.

 Majority Muslim countries are doing their best to shelter 2.2 million refugees


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.

In the meantime some 60,000 people  from Mexico and Central America  have "flooded" our borders.

Of these (according to the USA Border Patrol) some 40,000 are children and young people (with some mothers) who  have fled from the ghastly violence and murder which is the lot of many children in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

The right wing of the Republican party calls them "illegal immigrants".

The less than progressive Democratic Party dithers, with an eye to elections. 

The United Nations believes that the kids and their Mums from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are bona-fide refugees.

See this from the New York Times

 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/10/world/americas/fleeing-gangs-children-head-to-us-border.html

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The truth is that these 60,000 people who have "flooded our borders" hah -  ask Turkey about "border flooding" -- are here, and by American law (passed in the George W. Bush era),  they are here to stay-  pending judicial reviews of their status.

Some Republicans want President Obama to flout this law, even as they accuse him of breaking other laws. 

(Republican hypocrisy know no bounds).
 
(Nor does Democratic craven-ness).
 
 
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In matters of justice I  have little faith in the Democratic party.
 
I reserve my ire for the hypocrites  of the Republican party.  This is because that Party often claims that America is a Christian Country. They often make that claim with  regard to the health of women,  and the status of gay and lesbian Americans.
 
For these Republicans America is a selectively  Christian country, which ceases to be "Christian" at our borders.
 
These "Christians"  want to expel some 40,000 political  refugees  who are fleeing the terror of life in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
 
In the meantime the majority Muslim countries named above give shelter and food to 2.2 million political refugees.
 
JUST SAYIN'
 
 And as I am just saying I invite you to look back to 1939
 
 

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