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Abandoned by America

Having fled the horrors of an endless civil war, many Syrians languish in purgatorial refugee camps

Demonstrators yell slogans during anti-Donald Trump travel ban protests outside Philadelphia International Airport. (Photo: Reuters)
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Demonstrators yell slogans during anti-Donald Trump travel ban protests outside Philadelphia International Airport. (Photo: Reuters)

Ben Mcvane
The refugee camp where I work as a doctor, in northern Greece, is seven hours ahead of Washington, so news of President Trump’s executive order barring refugees for 120 days — and Syrian refugees indefinitely — came in the middle of the night. The next morning, it was the topic of conversation among the translators I work with. Given the enormity of our day-to-day tasks, they’re impressively well versed in the news: I first learned about the draft order early last week from one of the Syrian translators in our group.

He made a point of mentioning Mr. Trump’s promise to