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Trump's State Dept Announced Refugee Cap of 18,000 for 2020, a Shocking Historic Low
Surprising? No. Infuriating? VERY.
Trump plans to reduce the annual refugee cap to 18,000 in the coming fiscal year, the State Department said Thursday [9/26/19]. The lower ceiling follows a trend under Trump of cutting refugee levels every year.
The coming year’s 18,000-person cap will be the lowest since the refugee resettlement program began in 1980, a major shift from the 110,000 refugee admissions President Barack Obama proposed for fiscal year 2017.
Refugees are fleeing violence and oppression, and our values compel us to help them. These are cruel, bigoted policies that we must end.
Taken together, the reduction in refugee admissions and the new restrictions on where they may resettle represent another blow to the US’s ability to aid the world’s most vulnerable populations, even as the number of refugees worldwide has soared. The number of refugees worldwide approximately doubled between 2012 and 2018 to more than 20 million, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The United Nations Refugee Agency estimated there were nearly 26 million refugees worldwide in 2018.
This is not what America is supposed to be. The United States must be a global leader in rescuing refugees.
The cut to refugee levels comes after the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with a sweeping ban on asylum-seekers who transit through another country en route to the U.S.-Mexico border. The asylum restrictions are expected to cut off access for tens of thousands of migrant families traveling north from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Sources:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/26/20886038/trump-refugee-cap-executive-order