Refugees, illegal immigrants, or neighbors?

For several weeks, the news has been all about the refugee crisis facing Europe. In the face of concertina wire and quotas, one columnist had the courage to remind Europeans that 1. Excluding refugees goes against all that the European Union and its members have traditionally stood for, and 2. that European nations, acting together or separately, bear some responsibility for the chaos in the Syrian region, and therefore have a special duty to help people fleeing this war zone.

South and Central American refugees seem to be forgotten, although the United States currently has more than 600 women and children in two private prisons in Texas, and no plan to allow more Central Americans to enter the United States and begin their path toward full citizenship. It's all about walls and deportations. I was delighted to note that Pope Francis, perhaps because he is from Argentina, spoke of the urgent needs of these people and our obligation to help them. The Obama administration has deported Hispanics (so-called illegal immigrants) in record numbers, and Congress has failed these refugees.

I submit to you that we should solve our own immigration crisis, before we judge European countries. Certainly we bear a huge responsibility for the economic and political chaos in Central America. We have a long history of supporting any dictator who would be our ally; trade agreements such as CAFTA have ruined their economies; and our insatiable appetite for illegal drugs has resulted in powerful drug cartels and horrifying violence.

Do they qualify as refugees? They face terrible danger at home, where rival cartels fight it out in the streets, and their children have been snatched off the streets and never seen again. That more than qualifies them as refugees, fleeing for their lives.

As the great grandchild of Scots- Irish Presbyterians who came to this country from Ireland in 1862, I'm glad they didn't have to face such barriers. While I'm sure Catholic and Church of England leaders may not have been very nice to Presbyterians, it's clear to me that they emigrated for economic reasons, so that their children wouldn't face starvation at home.

Let's go back to being a generous nation, reaching out to those in trouble. Surely we can do better as a state than Branstad's exclusionary position (remember Robert Ray?); and Senator Grassley and Senator Ernst, and our representatives can offer a fair and generous policy to include Central American refugees in this country of immigrants.

' Kathleen Hall is As a Quaker, and a member of Workers for Peace Iowa. Comments: editorial@thegazette.com