Saudi Arabia Not Taking Refugees Despite Having 100,000 Empty, Air Conditioned Tents

While Europe struggles with the refugee crisis, Saudi Arabia, less than 2,032.5 km from Syria, has been largely unresponsive to the crisis.

Telesurtv
By Telesurtv
The tent city of Mina could house 3 million people. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Pressure continues to mount on Saudi Arabia to take Syrian refugees after it was revealed that the Middle Eastern country has 100,000 air conditioned tents that could house more than 3 million people, sitting empty. The 20 square km tent city of Mina is used for five days each year by Hajj pilgrims, and deserted for the rest of the time. The

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EU Considers Internment Camps For Refugees

Document obtained by the Guardian shows EU ambassadors planning ‘detention measures’ for people whose asylum applications are turned down.

Sarah Dougherty
By Sarah Dougherty
A police officer controls the area as workers begin to erect a fence after Hungarian police officers close the border between Serbia and Hungary in Roszke, southern Hungary, Monday, Sept. 14, 2015.

Among the topics being discussed by European Union ministers at an emergency session in Brussels is a proposal for the new internment of refugees fleeing war and poverty, the Guardian revealed Monday. A four-page draft statement prepared by EU ambassadors ahead of Monday's meeting was obtained by journalist Ian Traynor. The document, which

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Obama Administration Rebuked For Turning Its Back On Syrian Refugees

Rights campaigners say president’s pledge to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees falls shamefully short of what’s needed.

Sarah Lazare
By Sarah Lazare
Migrants wait to disembark from the Italian Navy vessel 'Bettica' in the harbor of Salerno, Italy, Tuesday, May 5, 2015. About 700 migrants, including children, were rescued in the Sicilian Strait while they were trying to cross. (AP Photo/Francesco Pecoraro)

Amid a mounting human rights emergency, the Obama administration said Thursday that it will admit 10,000 Syrian refugees this fiscal year—a number that was criticized by rights campaigners as shamefully low, especially given the role of the United States in stoking the crisis. Facing criticism for its lagging humanitarian response so far, the

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As Major Culprit In Creating Crisis, US Rebuked For Failing Refugees

Observers say the U.S. is not only lagging in its humanitarian response, but also driving the war and conflict behind ongoing displacement

Sarah Lazare
By Sarah Lazare
Italian Coast Guard officers and holiday-makers help migrants to get off a boat near Siracusa, Italy.

As refugees are stranded at train stations, attacked by riot police, and killed during the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, Europe's failure to address the rising humanitarian crisis is being met with global outrage and sorrow. Now, many are also looking across the Atlantic to the United States, where observers say key responsibility

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Global Response To People Fleeing Ravages Of War: ‘Callous Indifference,’ Humanitarian Failure

Boat tragedy in Libya, corpses of refugees in truck in Austria reminder of human cost of war, lack of humanitarian responses.

Andrea Germanos
By Andrea Germanos
Migrants wait to disembark from the Italian Navy vessel 'Bettica' in the harbor of Salerno, Italy, Tuesday, May 5, 2015. About 700 migrants, including children, were rescued in the Sicilian Strait while they were trying to cross. (AP Photo/Francesco Pecoraro)

It's a crisis of record proportions that is being met with global "callous indifference" and failed, dehumanizing responses, human rights experts say. The crisis, described as Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War Two, involves hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict, many from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, trying to reach

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U.S. Border Patrol Broke Its Own Rules In Deporting Thousands Of Children

Human rights experts argue that many, if not most, of the children would be eligible to be considered refugees or candidates for asylum if they could have their day in court.

Alice Ollstein for Think Progress
By Alice Ollstein for Think Progress
Immigration Overload-Nogales

U.S. Customs and Border Protection repeatedly violated its own rules for screening undocumented children between 2009 and 2014, according to a government report released this week. Under U.S. law, all children who come without papers have a right to argue before a judge that they would be in danger if returned to their home countries. But this

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