SAUERBREY: Redefining migrants as refugees

Obama stands immigration policy on its head

The United States is the world’s most generous donor country addressing the global refugee problem. Funding for humanitarian assistance and resettlement of the world’s most vulnerable individuals has traditionally had strong bipartisan support in Congress.

We have provided food, water, shelter and medical assistance to millions of Afghans fleeing the Taliban, Burmese escaping the brutal military junta, Iraqis and now Syrians fleeing sectarian violence, Sudanese and Somalis, and countless other victims of horrific war-related violence.

There has been a clear understanding of who qualifies for refugee status and support. The 1951 Refugee Convention clearly spells out that a refugee is someone who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” In 1967, the definition was expanded to include people fleeing the violence of war.

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