"Children come unto me...."

Turkey has accepted more than 1 million refugees from the civil war in Syria, including refugees from Islamic State attacks throughout the region. Lebanon has accepted more than a million and Jordan more than half a million. These millions have been welcomed, if not exactly with open arms, at least with food, schools and sympathy. Virtually none of them applied for admission before arriving at the border. They just showed up. While the United States - with more than three times the population and 10 times the wealth of these countries combined - has been confronted with some 100,000 to 200,000 child refugees from civil unrest in Mexico and Central America who in many cases were greeted with protests and jeers on their way to immigration detention centers.

The vilification of refugee children is a cheap way to win cheap votes. "Unaccompanied Alien Children from Central America" as the Department of Homeland Security calls them are refugees. And most Americans understand this - a recent survey suggests as many as 69 percent. Deep down, Americans really are charitable; Americans really are generous - and American people really are eager to do good in the world and have good done on their behalf. The proper thing to do is the human thing to do: to care for them as we would our own children.

Adapted from here