Address the plight of Rohingya adrift in the Bay of Bengal and the larger citizenship crisis in Myanmar

There are currently upwards of 6,000 Rohingya migrants adrift on small boats in the Bay of Bengal who were abandoned by human traffickers in response to a crackdown on trafficking. They are men, women and children who's goal is simply to survive and escape the depravity of their treatment at the hands of the Myanmar government. At home they are denied healthcare, work and dignity. The Obama administration and the international community have an obligation to rescue these people. Diplomatic pressure should be applied to the uncooperative Thai, Myanmar and Malaysian governments which have until now chosen to bounce the migrants along. We now know that it was an act of depravity to turn away the Jewish refugees aboard the MS St. Louis in 1939. Let us not make the same mistake today.