Trump White House press release seeks to justify 45,000 FY18 refugee cap

This is more than the usual press statement from the White House on the Presidential Determination. In my experience previous statements have been shorter and certainly not so defensive.

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Whose bright idea was it to ‘split the baby’ and place a cap on refugees arriving in the US at a number to anger both sides (Tillerson, Trump, Haley, McMaster?) Unless he morphed into Obama, Trump will never make the Open Borders Left happy, so why look weak and disrespect the base?

 

Below (hat tip Richard at Blue Ridge Forum) are just some of the nuggets (interspersed with comments from me) that interested me. Read the whole thing here.

It reads like a press statement to justify suspending the whole program, or at least dropping the number significantly! 45,000 is not a significant drop!

President Donald J. Trump is Taking a Responsible and Humanitarian Approach on Refugees

President Trump has determined that up to 45,000 refugees may be admitted into the United States in Fiscal Year 2018. [George Bush averaged under 45,000 admissions from FY 2002-2008.—ed]

Editor: The difference between us and other countries being flooded with ‘refugees’ is that those refugees will not become permanent voting citizens in places like Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. Those we take are on a path to citizenship.

With this new ceiling, the United States will continue to permanently resettle more refugees than any other country and we will continue to offer protection to the most vulnerable…

Editor: Remember readers that successful asylum seekers (those granted asylum) are refugees eligible for all the perks and privileges given to the refugees we fly in. They can access welfare and become citizens. They are refugees even if the media continues to say that the likes of the Boston Bombers are not refugees.

The decision reflects the need to concentrate limited resources on the approximately 270,000 aliens who have applied for asylum but have not been properly vetted, and are already present in the United States.

Editor: The next time you hear the contractors/volags say there are no terrorists in the refugee pool in America, remember this:

As of February 2017, more than 300 individuals who were initially admitted to the United States as refugees were under FBI investigation for potential ties to suspected terrorists.

Since 2011, there have been at least 20 admitted refugees who have been arrested or removed from the United States based on terrorism investigations.

In 2016, a Somali refugee attacked 11 Americans at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, approximately two dozen individuals who had been admitted to the United States as refugees have been removed or arrested and convicted of terrorism-related offenses.

Editor: This is the first time in a long time we have heard a word about any state or local say about what is being dumped on communities from Washington, but couched in squishy language (help build trust in refugee resettlement).  Who wrote this press release???

In February, the President met with local sheriffs at the White House to hear their concerns, including those about refugees who were resettled in their communities without local input.

President Trump believes in enhancing existing efforts to work closely with State and local leaders to help build community trust in refugee resettlement efforts while also determining the best placement of resettled refugees in the United States.

Editor: Regarding this next section of the White House press statement, there is no mechanism in place for any refugees who have been admitted to the US to go home. Over the years penniless unhappy refugees have come forward to say they made a mistake and want to go back home, but can’t afford to pay the airfare.  We have argued that there should be a way to accommodate their wishes.

One primary goal of United States refugee policy is to enable refugees to ultimately return home, where they can be reunited with friends and family and help rebuild their communities.

[….]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent more than $96 billion on programs supporting or benefiting refugees between 2005 and 2014.

HHS surveys from the Obama Administration show that 45% of refugees arriving between 2011 and 2015 were receiving cash assistance, 49% were receiving Medicaid, and that nearly 75% were receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Read it all here. I am sure I will be revisiting it.

45,000 is way too many and nothing here has changed my mind about that!

Indeed much of what is written above could have been used as justification for suspending the whole program!

And, by the way, where is the much more useful report that is supposed to have been delivered to Congress before the determination?

Endnote: In case you missed it, Donald began welcoming those Australian rejected asylum seekers just this week as he surpassed his 50,000 CEILING for FY17 by 3,695! Total as of this morning for FY17 is 53,695.

Maybe the Prez should invite those mostly single men who have lived in detention for as long as 4 years to the White House and show them to the media (and show his family what a humanitarian he can be)!

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