A refugee is a person who has been forced to flee their home because of war, violence, or persecution, often without warning. They are not able to return home unless or until conditions in their native lands are safe for them again.
• An asylum seeker is a person who is also seeking international protection from dangers in their homeland but whose claim for refugee status hasn’t been determined legally. Asylum seekers must apply for protection in the country of destination—meaning they must arrive at or across a border (in order) to apply for asylum.
• An immigrant is a person who has made a conscious decision to leave their home and move to a foreign country (with the intention) settling there. Immigrants often must complete a lengthy vetting process to immigrate to a new country. Many become lawful permanent residents and eventually citizens.
As you can see, I started this post with three definitions—due to sheer ignorance or political agendas. These definitions are often confused or misused.
On 13 May 1939, a ship departed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana. The passengers on this ship were refugees—trying to escape an increasingly hostile situation in their home country.
The final destination was the United States. The majority of its passengers had applied for US visas and were planning to move from Cuba to the US once the visas became available. They asked for asylum in a country they thought would be a safe haven. The ship was denied access to the Cuba ports because the Cuban government had changed its mind.
The ship then cruised up the coast to Miami in June 1939, and its passengers could see the lights of the city glimmering. Unfortunately, the United States was not on the original itinerary of the ship, and its passengers had no permission to disembark in Florida. As the more than 900 refugees looked longingly at the twinkling lights, they hoped against hope that they could land. Those hopes would soon be dashed by immigration authorities, sending the ship back to Europe. The ship was the MS St Louis.
Most of the 937 passengers aboard the ship were Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany. Though World War II had not yet begun, the Nazi’s groundwork for the Holocaust had already been laid out.
The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain agreed to take 288 (32 percent) of the passengers, who disembarked and traveled to the UK via other steamers. The remaining refugees ended up in mainland Europe. An estimated 255 died later in the concentration camps.
Just think about it for a moment next time you want your government to send back refugees. Yes, the Holocaust happened more than 80 years ago, but the parameters have never been removed, just altered a bit.
Another group of people who were denied asylum, albeit through a technicality, was the Frank family. Many people have read Anne Frank’s diary—she was also a refugee.
Sources
https://www.history.com/news/wwii-jewish-refugee-ship-st-louis-1939
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/27/14412082/refugees-history-holocaust
https://www.britannica.com/topic/MS-St-Louis-German-ship
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