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Stephen Miller Has a New Friend in State Department and They Want to Cut Refugee Admissions to Almost Zero
Stephen Miller, an terrible person with unthinkable powers has ordered Trump to clamp down on refugee admittances and Trump has gladly obeyed. President Barack Obama previously set the ceiling on refugees admitted into the country at 110,000 while many had pushed for more. Howver in 2017, Trump slashed the limit to 45,000. Now these is discussion to push it as low as 5,000... effectively no refugees saved for humanitarian crises. America is an embarrassment.
Trump last year advocated dropping the refugee cap as low as 5,000 people.... a cut far more drastic than even his most hawkish adviser, Stephen Miller, proposed at the time. Ultimately, the administration restricted to 45,000 the flow of refugees into the U.S. this fiscal year – the lowest since the program began in 1980....
Now Miller and a group of like-minded aides are pressing to reduce drastically the number of people entering the U.S., both legally and illegally.... the cap could fall as low as 15,000 in 2019, continuing a contraction of overall immigration, both legal and illegal.
“Inside the Washington beltway, this is a numbers game that’s being carried out by people who don’t care about refugees and are orienting this to their base,” said Anne Richard, who was assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration in the Obama administration.
Miller, a policy adviser to Trump since the campaign and, before that, an aide to then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, has made immigration his signature issue. White House officials are loath to cross him given his passion for the subject and his close relationship with the president....
“Miller is not deterred,” said one Republican close to the White House. “He is an adamant believer in stopping any immigration, and the president thinks it plays well with his base.”
Just one week ago, a close ally of Miller was appointed to a key refugee position at the State Department. To be clear, a xenophoic, racist person who hates refugees was chosen for a position that previously sought to help them. TRUMP'S AMERICA.
A White House aide and ally of....Stephen Miller has been appointed to a position at the State Department where he would exercise influence over refugee policies, in a move that could further enable the administration’s harsh crackdown on migration.
John Zadrozny had served on the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, a powerful office that had appropriated from both the State Department and the National Security Council some authority over refugee admissions policy. Zadrozny has served as an official in the George W. Bush administration and a top aide to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
In his new job, he will over oversee a portfolio of issues at the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, an office that....developed outsized influence in the Trump administration.... he will help oversee the department’s refugee policies.
Zadrozny is also close to Andrew Veprek, the deputy assistant secretary of state for the embattled refugee bureau, according to former officials. Veprek has most recently come under fire for pushing to soften language on a United Nations resolution condemning racism.
Apparently, we're left to hope that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a tea-party Republican and Koch Brothers favorite, will be a voice of reason. Great.
The wild card is Pompeo. No one is quite sure where he stands on the matter – but his State Department is stocked with Miller allies, including deputy assistant secretary of state Andrew Veprek and Zadrozny....
As the White House stacks the State Department with more refugee skeptics, some officials and refugee advocates fear the administration is pushing to revoke the State Department’s oversight on refugee admissions....
Some senior officials who have advocated for refugees have been forced out in recent months. Jennifer Arangio, a senior director at the National Security Council who managed U.S. policy with international organizations, was fired and escorted from her office this month following clashes over refugee issues with Miller.
Sources:
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/02/trump-immigration-refugee-caps-759708