Migrants or refugees

Refugees Welcome Event in Göteborg, 9/9/15.  Helsingborg's event is today, 9/11.

The refugee crisis is on everyone's mind in Europe.  The war in Syria has resulted in increasing numbers of people fleeing the country for refuge elsewhere.  If you are confused about what to call them, use the word refugee.  As Queen Rania of Jordania clearly states:
"A migrant is somebody who chooses to go to another country, they want a better job, education, or to unite their family," she said. "They can choose to go back to their own country and have protection from their government, whereas refugees are literally running for their lives."
To date Germany has taken in the most refugees registering over 450,000 this year alone.  Austria closed the train line to Hungary because there were so many refugees on the rail that there was massive congestion.  The islands of Greece have been overwhelmed, as well as Italy.  It is those countries closest to the crisis that have been most taxed but as the refugees struggle through those countries northward other lands such as Denmark, and Sweden are faced with the question too of how many refugees to assist.

Some people in those countries are reaching out them, such as my friends in Southern Sweden who are helping to welcome the refugees, others just want them to move along.  Denmark will be tightening restrictions on asylum seekers they announced.  Danish Minister Inger Stojberg is quoted as saying:

"I wish to change that because we cannot simply keep up with the present flow," she said. "In light of the huge influx to Europe these days, there is good reason for us to tighten rules and get that effectively communicated."

Denmark ran ads in Lebanon to discourage refugees.  Again to quote CNN:  The ads run in Lebanese newspapers state that Denmark has passed a law to reduce social benefits for newly arrived refugees by as much as 50%.

Other measures include ensuring that foreign nationals granted temporary protection in Denmark will not have the right to bring family members to Denmark during the first year; and that they can only be granted a permanent residence permit after a minimum of five years.

To get a permanent residence permit, refugees must also meet certain requirements in terms of learning the Danish language, the advertisement said. Anyone whose asylum request is rejected will be swiftly returned.

Opinion: Europe reaps what it has sown

Please read more here on this important issue: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/10/europe/europe-migrant-crisis/ and watch the clips which will give you a clearer understanding of the situation.  As you may understand from the photo many Syrian refugees said "no thanks" to Denmark and wanted to get off in Sweden where they appear to be getting a warm welcome.

Journalist Susanne Gargiulo reported from Copenhagen, CNN's Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London, and Michael Martinez from Los Angeles. CNN's John Dear, Kim Norgaard, Pierre Meilhan, Chris Liakos, and Tobias Grimm contributed to this report.

CNN 9/10/2015