Susan Sarandon

As Europe grapples with its biggest migrant crisis in recent history, Hollywood celebrities are rallying to raise awareness about the issue and lashing out at calls to turn away refugees.

Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon this month became the latest star to arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos, a frontline for the crisis, where she is spending the Christmas holiday helping new arrivals and writing about her experience for the Huffington Post and RYOT.org, a virtual reality news company.

The 69-year-old actress said she was trying to raise awareness on the crisis to honor her grandparents, who were Italian immigrants.

“I hope that I can make it possible for them (the refugees) to have a voice so we can understand,” she wrote in one posting. “Understand that ‘these people’ are just like us, wanting to keep their children safe. Wanting them to have a future.”

The support by Sarandon and other celebrities comes against a backdrop of inflammatory remarks in the United States, where leading Republican presidential candidates and politicians have backed calls to prevent Muslims or Syrian refugees from entering the country.

Actor Mandy Patinkin, who plays CIA operative Saul Berenson on the hit television series “Homeland” and who visited Lesbos earlier this month, said such rhetoric only served to fan the flames of intolerance.

“This fear-mongering and hatred that’s going on by people running for the president of United States is so misguided,” he said during an appearance on the popular “Late Show” with Stephen Colbert.

“It is important that we open up our arms and our hearts to refugees that are fleeing a horrifying situation.”

Actor Edward Norton has also spoken out on the migrant crisis and has raised nearly $460,000 on behalf of a Syrian refugee whose story prompted him to act.

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