On the move with nowhere to go

Refugees fleeing the Middle East for the islands of Greece and Italy, and other points in Europe, have been at historic highs since 2013. Last year the UN announced a record level of refugees not seen since World War II. But the rising tide of humanity finally gained notice from world leaders after it was personified in the small body of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi, face down and alone, washed up on the surf of a Turkish beach. Aylan perished along with his 5-year-old brother and his mother when their rubber dinghy sank at sea. As war refugees from Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere grow more desperate, they are entrusting their families—including small children—to people smugglers intent on capitalizing on the crisis.

After a Syrian photographer captured on camera Aylan’s lifeless body sprawled near the water on Sept. 2 and a Turkish policeman gingerly scooping him up, calls for a humanitarian response to the migrant crisis redoubled. So too did the exodus.

By mid-September more than 432,000 refugees had crossed into Europe this year. Led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, some European countries appear poised to take them in. Shamed into action, Australia announced it would take in 12,000 Syrian migrants, and the Obama administration followed, saying it would allow 10,000 Syrians.

But by mid-September, European leaders were less sure, as at some border crossings more than 1,000 migrants were arriving per hour. Germany temporarily suspended all train traffic to and from Austria on Sept. 13 and reimposed document checks for all border crossers—upending Europe’s 30-year treaty guaranteeing passport-free travel.

As the European Union struggles to cope, the migrant crisis threatens to divide member nations: Hungarian, Czech, Slovakian, and Polish prime ministers rejected EU quotas for migrants. In Germany, Merkel sought to rally the country to take in up to a million migrants while taking heat from her Christian Democratic Union party.

The migrant crisis has spiked primarily due to the 4-year-old civil war in Syria and the rise of ISIS. Fully half of Syria’s population has been forced from its homes, with at least 4 million leaving the country.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., co-chairman of the Commission on Security & Cooperation in Europe (also known as the Helsinki Commission), said the migrant effect on Europe “is going to be profound.”

“We need a robust humanitarian response for people who are languishing in camps,” he said, including camps set up in Europe. At the same time, the lawmaker, who has chaired bipartisan congressional caucuses on human trafficking and refugees, said the Obama administration and international officers need to vet migrants forcefully.

“We know that traffickers in this part of the world are buying and selling women as commodities. We have to worry they have embedded themselves in this group. It’s a serious challenge.” Smith noted the number of male migrants far outweighs the number of females, raising questions about the plight of women and children left behind.

“We can’t be naïve. We want to give a humanitarian welcome to strangers—that’s living out the gospel, that’s Matthew 25. But we must be aware others have a different outcome in mind, and that’s killing people.”

Smith also wants proper consultation with Congress. According to the Refugee Act, the executive branch is obligated to consult Congress on setting new admission numbers—something Smith said has not happened.

Under the law refugees seeking residency in the United States must apply in another country, while asylum seekers may arrive in the United States and then request asylum. The Obama administration hasn’t spelled out how a migrant surge would be processed into the United States. Smith and others plan late-September hearings in Washington before the Helsinki Commission to ask those questions.