refugees

Through the coils of razor wire and a fence that stretches across green fields, the gathered people can see what has become a forbidden land -- Macedonia and its still-snow-capped mountains, the route they had hoped to take on their journey northward through the Balkans to the more prosperous heartland of Europe.

Pope Francis will wash the feet of young refugees during the Easter Week foot-washing ritual, after making official his practice of having women participate in the ceremony as well as men.

Greece's prime minister warned Monday that an international agreement to limit the number of refugees traveling to Europe could not be properly implemented unless smugglers on the Turkish coast are stopped.

The Obama administration is planning to expand a program to let would-be migrants from Central America apply for refugee status before they attempt to come to the U.S., Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday.

House Republicans renewed their call Friday for swift Senate action on a bill cracking down on Syrian and Iraqi refugees, following the arrests of two Iraqi-born men on terrorism-related charges.

The U.S. has checked social media in some capacity in refugee cases and has found, in a small sampling thus far, the information can be ambiguous in screening value and frequently inaccessible to reviewers, a Homeland Security official testified Thursday.

Sol Messinger was just 7 when he stood with his father at the rail of the ocean liner St. Louis and stared into the gathering darkness. But nearly eight decades later, Messinger still recalls the lights of Miami glittering off the bow, so near to him and more than 900 fellow Jewish refugees aboard, yet beyond their reach.

Over and over, Nedal Al-Hayk and his wife traveled up to three hours by bus from their temporary home in Jordan to an office where U.S. Homeland Security officials put them in separate rooms and asked them many questions in many different ways: Where were you born? Where were your parents born? Were you part of a rebel group? Were you politically outspoken?

President Obama said Wednesday Republicans who demand the United States stop taking in Syrian refugees are engaging in "political posturing" — and took a pointed swipe at Gov. Chris Christie in the process.

"I cannot allow New Jersey to participate in any program that will result in Syrian refugees — any one of whom could be connected to terrorism — being placed in our state," Christie wrote to Obama.