For the last dozen years I’ve followed the issues surrounding what the UN calls a refugee crisis (to the UN, it is always a crisis!), but there are now some serious efforts underway to better define the language surrounding migrants-on-the-move around the world.
The International Left works day and night to convince the uninformed public that anyone on the move around the world for any reason is a REFUGEE with a right to live in a first world country.

Europe grapples with distinction between refugees and economic migrants

I’m posting a couple paragraphs from near the end of the story first:

According to the United Nations, a refugee is someone who is “unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted” and has the right to asylum in another country. [Right to apply for asylum says the UN, not a guarantee of asylum!—ed]
An economic migrant is generally considered to be someone who leaves their country in search of work or a higher standard of living, not to flee persecution.

It is persecution for race, religion, political view, etc. they must prove, and NOT because there are criminal gangs in their own country, or that they simply want a better life!
Here are the opening paragraphs:

LONDON — With every new storm-tossed rescue ship that hauls drowning migrants out of the Mediterranean Sea, European governments are becoming increasingly reluctant to throw open their ports.

The distinction between “genuine” refugees and economic migrants is being seized upon as countries, weary of playing the good Samaritan, are now pushing to prevent asylum-seekers from reaching their soil in the first place.

Italy and Malta have closed their harbors to rescue ships and are demanding that other European countries share the responsibility or that migrants are taken to ports in places like Tunisia instead. Migrants must claim asylum in the first European Union country they reach. That means the nations closest to conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa have been forced to cope with the biggest proportion of new arrivals.

Americans pay attention!
Those caravan migrants from Central America and elsewhere, passing through Mexico to our border, should have asked for asylum in Mexico, at its southern border, if they were legitimate refugees.
But, in fact, they are “asylum shopping” which is a term used to describe those looking for the best deal in a more generous country.

Since last summer, Italy has also clamped down on humanitarian operations by detaining rescue vessels on charges ranging from illegally aiding migrants to not being properly registered. That has resulted in fewer boats searching for people in distress — with no rescue vessels sometimes operating in the central Mediterranean Sea.
The language used by some governments to refer to asylum-seekers has also been shifting in recent months. [Shifting to what it is supposed to be!—ed]
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who also serves as interior minister and who is a member of an anti-immigration populist party, has railed against “fake refugees.”

More here.

What do you do?  Pay attention to the language of the Leftwing Open Borders agitators and attempt at every opportunity to counter it.  That means if you see a local news story using the word ‘refugee’ loosely attempt to correct it either with a letter-to-the-editor or call the reporter.  

Likewise when you see a dumb elected official showing their ignorance about the word ‘refugee’ try to set him/her straight!

Don’t let your friends and acquaintances get away with loose language on the issue of refugees either!