In a few weeks Claire will be leaving again for a refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan.
When Claire first told me that she was going to Iraq I was worried for her safety. However she explained to me that Kurdistan, though technically part of Iraq, is its own autonomous state and is currently accepted as such by the government of Iraq.
She likewise assured me that Kurdistan's border with Iraq was strong, secure, and heavily fortified with Kurdish troops.
"Well then," I asked, "how are all those refugees getting in across that heavily fortified border?"
Claire laughed. "Mom, they're refugees. They come into the country at the port of entry, of course."
Of course. I'd forgotten that's how refugees normally enter the country in which they're seeking asylum, and that the right to seek asylum has been international law and the law of humanity since ancient times.
Funny how one forgets that living in the U.S.
https://www.mercycorps.org/articles/bangladesh/rohingya-refugee-crisis-quick-facts
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/09/rohingya-crisis-explained-maps-170910140906580.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/US-myanmar-rohingya-bangladesh-trump-exc/exclusive-bangladesh-pm-says-expects-no-help-from-trump-on-refugees-fleeing-myanmar-idUSKCN1BU07C
https://thekurdishproject.org/infographics/kurds-and-the-refugee-crisis/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_asylum