Dear Senator Warren

This week the worldwide press published the sickening and heartbreaking
images of little Aylan Al-Kurdi, a boy from Syria who drowned along with
his brother when the dinghy in which they were being transported sank off
the coast of Turkey.  He wasn't much older than my own son, and when I saw
his pale skin and stiff arms, his face against the sand, I cried because I
knew that there but for the grace of God go I and my family, and my own son.

The United States tends to be geopolitically isolated from the African and
Middle Eastern migrant crisis that's engulfing Europe.  That doesn't mean
that Americans haven't a responsibility, as world citizens and as human beings,
to take action to remediate the horrible conditions that are driving so many
people to undertake such dangerous voyages.  These migrants are driven more
by political instability than by economic woes; they're coming not only from
war-torn Syria but also from other failing states such as Somalia and Eritrea.
If the United States, working with the European Union and the United Nations,
can act to improve political conditions in these countries then we can
stem this tide of migration.  Few people actually want to leave their
homes and extended families; the vast majority would prefer to remain in
their home countries if they could safely do so.  Let's make it safe for them.

I hope that you'll press for the United States to (1) act to mitigate the
conditions that are driving this migration, (2) act to prevent loss of
life amongst those who, despite advice, undertake the voyage, and at the
same time (3) take in a reasonable and proportionate number of legitimate
refugees, in cooperation with other United Nations member states.  The United
States, as a populous and resource-rich country, has a responsibility to
accept a significant number of refugees; Refugee Council USA have called
on the United States to resettle at least 65,000 Syrian refugees by the end
of 2016, and a 21 May letter signed by Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and
thirteen others of your Senate colleagues has endorsed this recommendation.

Kind regards
Matthew Belmonte