Abstract
In the face of the European refugee crisis since fall 2015, the Vatican, the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), and the German government have all rightly appealed to the principle of solidarity. However, this article argues that they have all failed to account for the obligations that solidarity places upon refugees and migrants, as well as failing to account for the differences between refugees and migrants and the political limitations of host countries. Discussions of the refugee crisis need to avoid moralizing political problems if the principle of solidarity is to be properly and fully observed.