Sawt Falasteen - Richard Gere says 'ashamed' of US migration policy

"Everyone is an immigrant or a refugee or migrant," Gere said at the launch of the partnership between his foundation and the Hertie School, a Berlin-based public policy university.

"We often speak about migrants, about refugees, as if they were different from us. As though they belong to another category of human beings," said the 76-year-old star of "American Gigolo", "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Pretty Woman".

"The US government is calling them aliens," said Gere, a fervent critic of US President Donald Trump. "They had been vermin, now it's aliens. I'm deeply ashamed of this, I want you to know."

The Joint Initiative on Migration will aim to help generate "a new perspective, new politics and new policies on migration", the school said. Focusing on migration from Africa to Europe, it will encourage a shift from "hostility-based to opportunities-led policymaking".

"Migration is often discussed through statistics, border policies, quotas, election campaigns... racism," Gere said, adding that "European governments frequently focus on reducing arrivals rather than addressing the causes" of migration.

German Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan said the initiative was being launched "at a time when the public discourse on displacement and migration is increasingly hostile and polarised, making it very difficult to find sustainable solutions".

Gere has been involved in humanitarian work for decades and has helped fund projects to support refugees, public health, education and emergency relief as well as culture, especially in Tibetan communities.

In August 2019, he boarded the Open Arms rescue ship near Lampedusa, where migrants were stranded after being denied permission to dock.

Gere laid into Trump at an awards ceremony in Oslo on Tuesday, calling the US president a "maniac" who has "dismantled almost everything that was good" about the United States.

Y.Shaath--SF-PST