The Impossible Task of Sorting Economic and Political Refugees

As the globe's population swells from about 2 billion people a century ago to more than 7 billion today, migration numbers are on the rise, too, from about 173 million in 2000 to about 250 million today. Will Hickey, author and associate professor with the School of Government and Public Policy in Indonesia, analyzes the dilemma for countries in trying to separate refugees based on their motivation, economic or political. Refugees search for a better life, and the line between economic and political security is blurred and the stories from either side are equally heartbreaking.