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Syria war: UN urges leaders to accept more refugees

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Ban Ki-moon says governments must “act with solidarity” to alleviate Syria refugee crisis and “counter fear-mongering”.

Many refugees have died while fleeing to European countries on rickety boats [AP]

Many refugees have died while fleeing to European countries on rickety boats [AP]

by Al Jazeera

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on governments around the world to allow in more Syrian refugees and “counter fear-mongering” about them.

At a conference in Geneva on Wednesday, Ban urged countries to “act with solidarity, in the name of our shared humanity, by pledging new and additional pathways for the admission of Syrian refugees”.

He said they can do so through “resettlement or humanitarian admission, family reunions, as well as labour or study opportunities”.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR convened a meeting of more than 90 countries at the Swiss UN seat in Geneva, aiming to win new pledges for resettlement and family reunification programmes, as well as study visas.

“We are here to address the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time,” Ban said.

These programmes are separate from usual asylum procedures. They are aimed especially at helping vulnerable groups, including women, children and people with medical needs.

Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq have been hosting most of the five million refugees of Syria’s conflict, which has put serious strains on state budgets and public services.

“Communities hosting refugees in neighbouring countries are exhausted,” Ban said.

Furthermore, tens of thousands of Syrian refugees are stranded in European countries without basic rights or the proper documentation to lead a normal life.

Ban also emphasised that countries should not demonise refugees, but should see the opportunities that the people could bring to their new host countries.

“Today, they are refugees. Tomorrow, they can be students and professors, scientists and researchers, workers and care-givers,” he said.

Earlier this year, an international donor conference in London pledged more than $11bn to assist Syrian refugees and internally displaced people in 2016-2020, the bulk of which came from the US and EU member-states.

And wealthy countries have pledged 178,000 of the 480,000 resettlement spots needed for Syrians, according to UN estimates.

Report: Arrivals by sea in Europe approach 1m mark

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Over 900,000 people reached the continent and 3,563 went missing or drowned trying to make the journey, monitors say.

About 5,000 refugees are reaching Europe each day along the so-called Balkan migrant route [Santi Palacios/AP]

About 5,000 refugees are reaching Europe each day along the so-called Balkan migrant route [Santi Palacios/AP]

by Al Jazeera

More than 900,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe since January 2015, and over 3,000 have drowned or gone missing during the same period, according to the UN and an organisation which monitors the migration flow.

Since January 2015, at least 907,712 refugees and migrants made the journey to Europe, including 878,495 who have arrived by sea, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

That means that almost 97 percent arrived by sea.

At least 3,563 people have gone missing or drowned trying to reach Europe, the IOM said.

The UNHCR put the number of arrivals by sea at 886,262, and 3,515 reported missing or dead.

The IOM and UNICEF said that children accounted for 20 percent of those arriving in 2015.

The share is greatest along the Eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey to Greece and through the Western Balkans, where children make up over one-quarter of arrivals.

In October, more than 90 children died on their way to Greece, and in the past week, nine of the 12 deaths on this crossing were children, the IOM said.

Mostly Syrians and Afghans

Along the journey, children are also more at risk of illness and injury, as well as exploitation, separation from family, kidnapping and trafficking.

Greece has seen the largest number of refugees arriving by sea, where at least 738,465 refugees have arrived since January this year.

The majority of those arriving in Europe by sea come from the world’s top 10 refugees-producing countries, the highest being Syria and Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, the EU struck a deal with Turkey in Brussels that aims to limit the flow of refugees into the continent.

The agreement includes providing Turkey with $3.2bn, along with closer ties with the EU in return for handling the refugees from war-torn countries on its territory.

The UNHCR reported in June that the worldwide displacement was at the highest level ever recorded, in which, by the end of 2014, a staggering 59.5 million people were forcibly displaced.

It also said that globally one in every 122 humans is now either a refugee, internally displaced or seeking asylum.

Since 2011, the main reason for such a rise in figures has been the war in Syria, now the world’s single-largest driver of displacement.

Refugees stranded at border sew mouths shut to protest cruel treatment

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Balkan policies banning refugees based on nationality slammed as ‘inhumane’

Rights groups have rebuked European states for erecting fences and sealing off borders in the face of the worst crisis of global displacement since World War II. (Photo: Reuters)

Rights groups have rebuked European states for erecting fences and sealing off borders in the face of the worst crisis of global displacement since World War II. (Photo: Reuters)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

At least seven people sewed their mouths shut and many more blocked trains on the Greece-Macedonia border Monday to protest the intensifying Balkan crackdown and profiling of refugees and asylum seekers that is impacting those fleeing war and poverty from across the globe.

The demonstrations have been ongoing for at least four days and were organized in response to a recent decision by some Balkan countries to block refugees according to nationality in the wake of the November 13th Paris attacks.

Many of those who have bound their lips together are Iranian nationals on hunger strike for the right to seek asylum and refuge in Europe. They protest alongside numerous others—from Morocco, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other countries—who are stranded in the Greek village of Idomeni.

Slovenia announced last week it is barring entry to all refugees except those fleeing Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan—declaring everyone else an “economic migrant” ineligible for admittance. Croatia, Serbia, and Macedonia soon after announced they will follow the same policy.

“I cannot go back. I will be hanged,” a 34-year-old Iranian man identified as Hamid toldReuters, explaining he wished to travel to “any free country in the world.”

In lively protests that continued through Monday, demonstrators chanted, rallied, and laid down on train tracks, with many from Pakistan holding signs illustrating human rights violations in their home country.

“We are also at war you know?” Yianni, a 34-year-old dentist from Cameroon, told IRIN News last week. “We have Boko Haram! I need to continue with my studies and my life.”

The decision has been denounced by refugees, rights campaigners, and global bodies. This includes the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and UNICEF, which released a joint statement on Friday declaring that the profiling of refugees according to nationality “is becoming increasingly untenable from every point of view—humanitarian, legal, and also safety related, not least in light of falling temperatures and the risks for children and others with specific needs.”

“These measures by States are creating tension at border crossings and a domino effect, leaving in total limbo some refugees and migrants stranded at different border points,” the joint statement continued.

“To classify a whole nation as economic migrants is not a principle recognized in international law,” Rados Djurovic, director of the Belgrade-based Asylum Protection Center, told a Serbian state television station. “We risk violating human rights and asylum law.”

Rights groups have rebuked European states for erecting fences and sealing off borders in the face of the worst crisis of global displacement since World War II. In a report released last week, Amnesty International argued that such policies do not deter those fleeing war and poverty, but merely force them to take more dangerous voyages, placing them at greater risk of death.

US: 47 Democrats join with House GOP to refuse suffering refugees

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“Not much is bipartisan these days, but apparently bigotry is something both sides of the aisle can come together on.”

"Speaker Ryan and this un-American bill's supporters falsely claim it will simply pause U.S. resettlement of refugees," said Karin Johanson of the ACLU. "In fact, it will bring resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees to a grinding halt" (Photo: Reuters)

“Speaker Ryan and this un-American bill’s supporters falsely claim it will simply pause U.S. resettlement of refugees,” said Karin Johanson of the ACLU. “In fact, it will bring resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees to a grinding halt” (Photo: Reuters)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

Forty-seven House Democrats joined with a majority of Republicans to approve a bill that would effectively stop the ability for Syrian refugees attempting to flee their war-torn country to be resettled in the United States.

 

The passage of the bill, which was backed by newly-elected Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and passed 289-137, was immediately slammed by progressive lawmakers who opposed the measure and rights groups who said the bill represents a gross and reactionary response to recent events in Paris, France.

View the roll call here.

Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who co-chair the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called the bill a direct assault on “a fundamental American value” which is to “provide a safe haven for our most vulnerable neighbors.”

Grijalva and Ellison said they were proud to oppose the bill which they characterized as a repetition of a past mistakes that have tarnished American history. “Syrian refugees are fleeing persecution and violence from the very same terrorists that attacked Paris last week,” they said. “We cannot allow fear-mongering to influence policy that could mean the difference between life and death for these desperate families.”  We stand proudly against misguided attempts to repeat past mistakes that tarnish our nation’s history.

The bill, they said, “diverts resources from where they are really needed by creating an excessive review process that would add years to the resettlement process and prevent thousands of people from getting the protection they need. Our Syrian refugee vetting process is already the most comprehensive in the world, and these changes would stretch the federal government’s limited resources. Closing our doors to Syrian refugees fleeing violence and persecution isn’t just morally wrong; it threatens our national security by fueling the extremist narrative that the West is at war with Islam.”

Though many Democrats sided with President Obama, who has said he will veto the bill, the 47 Democrats who sided with their GOP colleagues exposed just how susceptible lawmakers remain when it comes to knee-jerk jingoism and the hysteria that follows attacks like the ones in Paris on Friday.

As Nick Cunningham, an independent journalist and writer, responded to the vote on Twitter: “Not much is bipartisan these days, but apparently bigotry is something both sides of the aisle can come together on.”

And the Huffington Post reports:

Obama has been heavily critical of efforts to limit refugee resettlement, although he and other administration officials said they are open to ideas to strengthen the screening process. He has said he remains committed to his previous plan to admit 10,000 Syrians in the 2016 fiscal year, as long as they go through the screening process.

He said the rhetoric coming from Republicans — and some Democrats — would only hurt the country’s security.

“I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than some of the rhetoric that’s been coming out of here during the course of this debate,” Obamasaid Tuesday.

“Speaker Ryan and this un-American bill’s supporters falsely claim it will simply pause U.S. resettlement of refugees,” said Karin Johanson, director of the ACLU’s Washington legislative office. “In fact, it will bring resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees to a grinding halt by adding layers of bureaucracy to an already rigorous process.”

What’s more, she continued, “[i]t also discriminates against refugees based on their national origin, nationality, and religion. Supporters of this bill want us to turn our backs on refugees who are seeking safe harbor from the very terrorism we all abhor. This is not leadership. We thank the House members who rejected this reactionary impulse and this discriminatory legislation.”

When asked about the bill’s prospects in the U.S. Senate by a reporter, Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) responded: “Don’t worry, it won’t get passed.” Meanwhile, attempts from Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Rand Paul to block or curtail benefits for Syrian refugees seeking to enter the U.S. failed in the Senate on Thursday.

Deirdre Fulton contributed reporting for this story.

Mosques vandalised as US states reject Syria refugees

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Suspected hate crimes targeting Muslims carried out as anti-Islam rhetoric swells in the US following Paris attacks.

More than 4.2 million Syrians have fled their country as the civil war continues [Santi Palacios/AP]

More than 4.2 million Syrians have fled their country as the civil war continues [Santi Palacios/AP]

by Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera

Several mosques have been vandalised and a number of suspected hate crimes targeting Muslims carried out after dozens of United States governors announced they would not accept Syrian refugees in their states.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights organisation, said on Monday that it has documented recent “vandalism, threats and hate [incidents]” in Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Nebraska, Tennessee, Ohio and New York, among other states.

The wave of incidents follows declarations by at least 27 state governors – 26 from the right-wing Republican party and a Democrat – saying they will block Syrian refugees, citing last Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris, claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

In one incident, officials at the Islamic Centre in Omaha, Nebraska, said that an image of the Eiffel Tower was spray-painted on the wall of a local mosque overnight on Monday, CAIR said.

In Pflugerville, Texas, worshippers arrived at their local mosque on Monday morning to find faeces smeared on the door and a torn-up copy of the Quran on the doorstep.

The Islamic Center of St Petersburg, Florida, received threatening voicemails just hours after news of the Paris attacks broke.

The caller said that they have “a militia that is going to come down to your Islamic Society of Pinellas County and firebomb you and shoot whoever is there in the head”.

According to CAIR, another Florida mosque, the location of which has not been made public, received similar threats. A caller vowed to “bomb” the mosque and “shoot people at will”.

In Portland, Oregon, protesters gathered outside a local and taunted worshippers as they arrived for prayer. They called members of the local Ahmadiyya Muslim community “cowards” and told them they are “going to hell”.

On Tuesday, an Uber driver in Charlotte, North Carolina, said he was punched and threatened with death by a passenger who mistook him as a Muslim, according to local media.

And a Muslim family in Orlando, Florida, said their family home was shot at by an unknown assailant on Monday. Speaking to local media, the Elmasri family and their neighbours said they were targeted because of their faith.

‘Clear uptick in anti-Islam rhetoric’

Corey Saylor, spokesperson at CAIR, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the governors’ refusal to accept Syrian refugees has encouraged Islamophobic sentiment.

“It gives people a license to put into action the uglier things they may be thinking” about Muslims, he said.

“After any incident like the Paris attack, we see a clear uptick in anti-Islam rhetoric.”

The Syrian uprising started in March 2011 and quickly devolved into a full-scale civil war. More than 250,000 people have been killed throughout the conflict, according to United Nations estimates.

More than 4.2 million Syrians have become refugees, while about 7.6 million are internally displaced within the country’s borders.

“Closing the doors on people fleeing war zones is not a message that America should send to the world,” Saylor said. “Rather than values, the [governors] are projecting fear.”

Some legislators called for US President Barack Obama’s administration to accept Christian refugees and reject Muslims.

Saylor says such calls are misinformed because ” ISIL’s number one victims are Muslims.”

Human rights groups have slammed the governors’ anti-refugee measures.

While governors are not able to ban Syrian refugees from residing in their states, they can suspend cooperation between state programmes and the federal government.

The federal government is the sole authority for refugee resettlement. But states can cut their own funding to local refugee programmes, placing the full weight the financial burden on the federal government.

“That can make it more difficult,” Angelita Baeyens, programmes director for the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, told Al Jazeera. “But it also sends a message of extreme intolerance and Islamophobia.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said on Monday that the US should not allow any Syrian refugees, including orphaned children, into the country.

“I don’t think orphans under five are being, you know, should be admitted into the United States at this point,” Christie said.

Baeyens said that Christie’s comments and others like it “create a climate of fear and suspicion”.

“In the face of the worst refugee crisis in recent history, this rhetoric is really appalling,” she added. “It is collective hysteria.”

Presidential candidates have also chimed in. Writing on Twitter, Republican Donald Trump claimed that “some” Syrian refugees may be ISIL members.

Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor, made similar anti-refugee comments during an interview with Fox News on Monday.

“Can you imagine bringing in a bunch of Syrian refugees who’ve lived in the desert their whole lives that are suddenly thrown into an English speaking community? Where it’s maybe in Minnesota where it is 20 degrees below zero?”

According to CAIR, Trump and Huckabee are among more than a dozen presidential hopefuls for the 2016 elections who have employed Islamophobic rhetoric during their campaigns.

While only 1,500 Syrians have been resettled in the US to date, the Obama administration announced earlier this year that 10,000 more will be accepted throughout a one-year span.

Speaking of the governors’ declarations, Human Rights Watch said Syrian refugees were being used as a “scapegoat”.

“Resettled refugees from Syria have fled persecution and violence, and undergone rigorous security screening by the US government,” Alison Parker, codirector of HRW’s US programme, said in a statement.

“The governors’ announcements amount to fearmongering attempts to block Syrians from joining the generous religious groups and communities who step forward to welcome them.”

Predictable and deplorable: US lawmakers vow to slam door on refugees

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As more than a dozen governors pledge to close state borders, advocates decry actions as cowardly and ‘un-American’

A Syrian woman holds her baby after their arrival on a small boat from the Turkish coast on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos Monday, Nov. 16, 2015. (Photo: AP/Santi Palacios)

A Syrian woman holds her baby after their arrival on a small boat from the Turkish coast on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos Monday, Nov. 16, 2015. (Photo: AP/Santi Palacios)

by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams

In what appears to be a textbook case of xenophobia and political fearmongering in the wake of a tragedy, more than a dozen U.S. governors have declared their states off-limits to Syrian refugees in the days following Friday’s terror attacks in Paris.

The leaders of Wisconsin, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Maine, Mississippi, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Texas, and Arkansas on Monday all pledged to stop or oppose any additional Syrian refugees from resettling in their states, following announcements made by the governors of Alabama and Michigan on Sunday.

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan was the first Democratic governor to join her Republican counterparts.

In a statement Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, decried the rolling announcements as “un-American,” saying those who reject refugees are allowing fear to overrun national ideals.

“This un-American rejection of refugees, who will face significant security checks prior to entry, sends entirely the wrong message,” CAIR said. “Governors who reject those fleeing war and persecution abandon our ideals and instead project our fears to the world.”

Responding to news that Michigan Governor Dan Snyder would rescind his previous commitment to accept Syrian refugees into his state, Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan declared: “This type of behavior is the exact cowardice and capitulation that the terrorists seek to force out of our elected leaders. Instead of stoking the fear that drives his party to a frenzy, Gov. Snyder should do the right thing and show Michiganders that we’re a state that will accept responsibility as global citizens to do our part to help people in crisis and that we can do that in a way that is both safe and responsible.”

Similarly, the ACLU of Florida issued a statement denouncing Governor Rick Scott for “blaming Syrian refugees for the very violence they are escaping.”

“We mourn those lost in the horrific attacks in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad, and wish to express our condolences, grief and condemnation,” the ACLU continued. “However, we must also warn against what we have often seen since 9/11: the impulse in the wake of a terrorist attack to overreact and curtail the freedoms that make our country great.”

In response to the prospects of a similar backlash in Europe, the UK-based refugee council said on Monday, “The world was moved by the response of Parisians who rallied round to help each other—opening their doors to people fleeing the murderous attacks. We should follow this example by offering safety to others who need it. We cannot leave refugees fleeing to Europe from these very same terrorists without safe haven.”

“We cannot use these deplorable events as an excuse to turn our backs on vulnerable refugees; compromising our most cherished values in the face of terror,” the statement continued. “We cannot let them divide us. We cannot let hatred and fear win.”

The windfall of anti-refugee sentiment came as U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday announced that the recent terror attacks would not change his plan to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees.

“The people who are fleeing Syria are the most harmed by terrorism; they are the most vulnerable as a consequence of civil war and strife,” Obama declared at the close of the G20 summit in Turkey. “We do not close our hearts to these victims of such violence and somehow start equating the issue of refugees with the issue of terrorism.”

“We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,” he added.

In a letter sent to Obama on Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott specifically urged him to abandon this plan. “Neither you nor any federal official can guarantee that Syrian refugees will not be part of any terroristic activity,” Abbott stated. “As such, opening our door to them irresponsibly exposes our fellow Americans to unacceptable peril.”

Predictably, the move to close U.S. borders is being championed by Republican presidential candidates, including Ben Carson, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who on Sunday said U.S. resettlement efforts should focus on Christian refugees.

Not to be outdone, Senator Rand Paul on Monday said he would introduce a bill to put an immediate moratorium on U.S. visas for refugees “as well as others from obtaining visas to immigrate, visit, or study in the U.S. from about 30 countries that have significant jihadist movements.” Paul told reporters in a press call that the legislation would be paid for “with a special tax on arms sales to any of these countries.”

Despite the political bombast, legal experts are questioning whether such restrictions can even be made by state officials. According to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Hines v. Davidowitz, “the supremacy of the national power in the general field of foreign affairs, including power over immigration, naturalization and deportation, is made clear by the Constitution.”

Or as Jen Smyers, associate director for immigration and refugee policy at the Church World Service, told Mother Jones, “There are really clear discrimination protections against saying someone can’t be in your state depending on where you’re from.”

However, as journalist Glenn Greenwald noted in this tongue-in-cheek Biblical reference, elected officials claim to take their directions from a higher moral authority.

Jeb Bush: Only Christians should be allowed refugee status in response to Paris attack

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Jeb Bush

by David Edwards Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said over the weekend that the U.S. should respond to the terrorist attacks in Paris by carefully screening out Syrian refugees who are not Christians.

“As it relates to the refugees, I think we need to do thorough screen,” Bush told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “And take a limited number. But ultimately, the best way to deal with the refugee crisis is to create safe zones inside of Syria so that people don’t risk their lives, and you don’t have what will be a national security challenge for both our country and for Europe of screening.”

But there was one group which should be allowed to take refuge in the U.S., the former Florida governor argued.

“There are a lot of Christians in Syria that have no place now,” he explained. “They’ll be either executed or imprisoned, either by Assad or by ISIS. And I think we should have — we should focus our efforts as it relates to the Christians that are being slaughtered.”

Tapper wondered how screeners would know which refugees were Christians.

“We do that all the time,” Bush insisted. “I think we need to be — obviously — very, very cautious. This also calls to mind the need to protect our borders, our southern border particularly.”

“This is a threat against Western civilization, and we need to lead. The United States has pulled back and when we pull back, voids are filled. And they’re filled now by Islamic terrorism that threatens our country.”

Watch the video below from CNN’s State of the Union, broadcast Nov. 15, 2015.

European leaders commit to more shelter for refugees

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EU and Balkan leaders agree 17-point plan that includes about 100,000 more places for refugees as winter looms.

eu

by Al Jazeera

European Union and Balkan leaders have agreed a 17-point plan to cooperate on managing arrival of refugees through the Balkan peninsula, the European Commission has said.

Among measures agreed at the meeting in Brussels on Sunday evening were that 100,000 places in reception centres should be made available along the route from Greece toward Germany. The UN refugee agency would help establish them.

Some 50,000 places will be created in Greece and another 50,000 on the route through Balkans countries such as Macedonia and Serbia, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said after the mini-summit of 11 nations.

“Refugees need to be treated in a humane manner along the length of the Western Balkans route to avoid a humanitarian tragedy in Europe,” Juncker said.

The agreement comes in the wake of differences among member nations on how to tackle the continent’s greatest refugee crisis since World War II.

“This is one of the greatest litmus tests that Europe has ever faced,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Border operations

They also agreed to expand border operations and make full use of biometric data like fingerprints as they register and screen refugees, before deciding whether to grant them asylum or send them home.

“We have made very clear that the policy of simply waving people through must be stopped,” EU Commission president told reporters, referring to agreements to cooperate and avoid unilateral national measures that have contributed to chaos throughout the region.

The meeting also agreed to deploy 400 police officers to Slovenia within a week to help the country cope with its overwhelming arrival of refugees. Earlier, Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar said that his country was not receiving enough help from its EU partners.

Nearly 250,000 people have passed through the Balkans since mid-September.

Croatia said 11,500 people entered its territory on Saturday, the highest tally in a single day since Hungary put up a fence and refugees started moving sideways into Croatia a month ago.

Over 10,000 refugees stranded in Serbia: UNHCR

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A child waits in the rain on the Serbia-Croatia border, October 19, 2015. (AFP/File)

A child waits in the rain on the Serbia-Croatia border, October 19, 2015. (AFP/File)

by ITN

More than 10,000 refugees are currently stranded in Serbia because of restrictions imposed by countries further away in western Europe, according to the UN refugee agency.

“We can only say that there are more than 10,000 refugees in Serbia,” UNHCR spokeswoman Melita Sunjic was quoted by Reuters as saying from the Serbian-Croatian border.

“It is like a big river of people, and if you stop the flow, you will have floods somewhere. That’s what’s happening now.”

Sunjic said there was a shortage of food and blankets. “We are missing everything,” she said.

Trump: I would send Syrian refugees home

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Republican Donald Trump vows to send home all Syrian refugee if he is elected, saying they could be ISIL members.

Trump questioned why Syrians were fleeing their country instead of staying and fighting [Reuters]

Trump questioned why Syrians were fleeing their country instead of staying and fighting [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has said he would send back Syrian refugees taken in by the US if he is elected president.

Trump said during a rally in New Hampshire on Wednesday that he was worried the refugees could be disguised members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

“I am putting the people on notice that are coming here from Syria as part of this mass migration, that if I win, if I win, they are going back, they are going back, I am telling you, they are going back,” Trump said.

His remarks came the same day Russian warplanes began air raids in Syria’s centre and north – their first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since the occupation of Afghanistan in 1979.

“Look, if Russia wants to go in there, [it] would have been nice if we went in as a unified front, to be honest. But if Russia wants to go in there and knock out ISIS (ISIL) and maybe stabilise, this big migration with 200,000 people into the United States…” Trump later reiterated to CNN.

“If I win, I’m going to say it right now and I’ll say it to you, those 200,000 people – they have to know this and the world will hear it – are going back.

“We’re not going to accept 200,000 people that may be ISIS. We have no idea who they are. And I’m telling you now, they may come in through the weakness of (President Barack) Obama,” but would return to their homeland if Trump makes it to the White House, he said.

Millions of Syrians have been fleeing a civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people since March 2011.

But Trump questioned why Syrians were fleeing their country instead of staying and fighting.

Secretary of State John Kerry announced earlier this month that the US would significantly increase the number of refugees it takes in over the next two years.

So far this year it has taken in about 1,500 Syrian refugees.

Kerry said the US will increase the number of refugees it takes in by 15,000 over each of the next two years, bringing the total to 100,000 in 2017.

The US will accept 85,000 refugees from around the world next year, up from 70,000, he said. Many of them will be Syrians.

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