It is not okay with me and thousands of American taxpayers who want to see the program abolished or reformed! Just dickering over numbers is a fools errand—unless of course the White House and Congress have no intention of seriously investigating the program, ever!
This is a huge disappointment.
Suspending the program in light of Harvey, Irma and Maria (when Americans are hurting and need housing and help) would have been the sensible thing to do in this non-election year.
Does bringing more poverty to America at this time make political sense?
And, does anyone really think that when the entire Congress and a third of the Senate is up for election in 2018, they will lift a finger to investigate and reform? Of course not!
This article at Politico (thanks to Joanne) tells us why the White House has been remiss in following refugee law and getting the decision made in a timely fashion. Here we are right up to the deadline and the dickering continues….
And, Trump doesn’t get it!
He will get s*** at 40,000, or 50,000, anyway. He might as well suspend the program and tell Congress to review the law! He has the power to do that!
Department of Homeland Security officials have warned the White House that they may have trouble processing 50,000 refugees next year, putting additional pressure on President Donald Trump to lower the cap on refugees entering the United States to the lowest point in decades.
In private meetings with White House officials in recent weeks, DHS officials have raised logistical concerns about handling 50,000 refugees in fiscal year 2018 if the president decides to maintain the cap that he imposed as part of the travel ban, according to two administration officials.
One of the administration officials said the department was swamped with a backlog of asylum applications, which have skyrocketed in recent years. In June, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had roughly 275,000 pending “affirmative” asylum cases — when someone arrives in the U.S. and requests safe haven. The figure amounts to a more than 600 percent increase in the backlog compared with December 2013.
The pressure from DHS comes as Trump faces a vanishing window to make the decision on refugee admissions. According to the statute that governs the program, the president should determine refugee levels before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1.
Though administration officials say Trump has not yet made up his mind, they expect him to lower the refugee cap below 50,000.
DHS has recommended setting the fiscal year 2018 refugee ceiling at 40,000, the administration officials said.
You can read the rest yourself, here. I have to go get a tooth pulled—highly preferable to reading more about this huge political blunder!