Ilhan Omar: I Hope Compassion for Ukrainians Leads to Changes for Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq Children

Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that she hoped the “compassion and generosity” that Ukrainians were offered translated to policy changes to accommodate other refugees from places, including Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Omar said, “We are living in a time of history, as a world, where there are more people displaced than at any given time in our history. We obviously are seeing what is happening in Yemen. Over 2 million people displaced, over 11,000 children have died in that conflict. We have obviously seen it in Syria. We see it in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and so many other places. I think that it is commendable, really, for a lot of these neighboring countries that do open up their doors, where there is an influx of people that are crossing their border and create policies. I hope that the compassion and generosity that Ukrainians are being met with it is something that leads to policy changes in the future.”

She added, “I think also here in the United States and in other countries that are taking in an influx of Ukrainian refugees, like Poland and Hungary and other places are, that we should be providing them the support that they need in order for them to be able to accommodate. It’s something like 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees going to Poland, and they are going to need our support.”

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