Here is one of many stories about the impact of the cap reduction to 50,000 refugees for the US in FY17, a portion of the Trump EO not effected by court wrangling.
We learned here that the refugee resettlement contracting agencies were going to be working on placing sob stories (like this one) to sway public opinion against President Trump.
As you read this, remember that since 9/11 we have had 4 years under 50,000 (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007) and under Obama we had one year (2011) under 60,000 see here.
So these whining contractors have often had lower numbers to resettle, but they were licking their chops for Obama’s proposed 110,000 paying refugee clients (they are paid by the head, by you, to resettle refugees in your towns and cities).
And, here, I argued that the Trump Administration should lower the cap to 35,000. Very few migrants from Syria, Somalia and Iraq get to the US outside of the refugee program so it would effectively slow the flow from terror hotspots. And, btw, we have been taking Somalis for 30 years—DOES IT EVER STOP!
***This morning we are already at 34,078 (1,953 since the EO was signed on 1/28) according to Wrapsnet.***
One more thing before I give you a few snips from the “chaos” news. Don’t allow anyone to use the argument made at the end of this article that we only take a fraction compared to say Turkey or Pakistan. Our refugees become permanent citizens and those presently swamping those countries will not be accepted as citizens. They will be expected to return to their own countries when the conflict ends.
Mark my words, if this flow from Syria to America gets going full steam, as it has for Somalia, we will still be taking Syrians for decades no matter what happens in their homeland.
Here is Devex:
President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees from entering the U.S. has — at least for now — been suspended. But the resulting scene for those involved in refugee resettlement is chaotic, exacerbated by concern about the longer term prospects of the United States’ role as a host country, according to several resettlement, legal aid and advocacy organizations. A cap on refugee arrivals at less than half the previous expected figure remains in place.
“We don’t know when people will be brought over, or how many those numbers will be. It’s very complicated — total chaos,” said Bill Swersey, senior director of communications and digital media at HIAS, one of the nine refugee resettlement organizations*** contracted by the U.S. federal government, in a phone interview early this week. “Everybody is confused. It is like we are riding a rollercoaster. First there is a ban, then it is rescinded… We don’t know when we will receive new people. Last week, there was one Syrian refugee family that arrived.”
[….]
…..some elements of the ban remain in place.
This includes a reduction of the number of refugees the U.S. will welcome — now curtailed to 50,000 per year, less than half of this year’s expected admission of 110,000.
[….]
“That is a huge concern. Over time we have incrementally worked up to more sufficient numbers and that is a highly discretionary thing the President sets a cap for every year,” said Kate Phillips-Barrasso, the International Rescue Committee’s senior director of policy and advocacy. “We worry if the caps are lower it just sets us back many, many years with the resettlement we are doing. [And, it means less $$$ and less staff for them!—ed]
The US takes the largest share by far of UN chosen refugees for permanent resettlement
The U.S. has historically been the largest participant in the U.N. refugee agency’s global resettlement program. Canada, Australia, Norway and the U.K. also take large numbers of refugees through this program.
“It is hard to see any countries being able to come forward and make up for this reduction,” Joel Charny, director of the Norwegian Refugee Council USA, wrote in an email to Devex. “I expect the 50,000 cap to remain in place in subsequent years as well.”
In 2016, a total of 114,916 refugees were resettled as part of the U.N. refugee agency’s program. The U.S. admitted 84,995 people during fiscal year 2016. The greatest number of refugees entering the U.S. came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by Syria, Burma, Iraq and Somalia.
Continue reading here.
This reminds me, Trump could take us out of the UN program and we could pick our own refugees. The fact that 98% of the Syrians entering the US right now are Muslims is because the UN makes the first cut.
Where is Congress? Hiding? Afraid of the Chamber of Commerce and big corporations needing cheap labor, like the meatpackers?
The present system of resettlement in America is so flawed that I believe the Refugee Act of 1980 must be trashed.
Congress could then write a new law, dumping the UN role in choosing refugees, if it was determined to be in America’s best interests to bring in a certain amount of third world poverty to our towns and cities.
***Nine major federal refugee contractors:
- Church World Service (CWS)
- Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) (secular)
- Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM)
- Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
- International Rescue Committee (IRC) (secular)
- US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) (secular)
- Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS)
- United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
- World Relief Corporation (WR)
In addition to the fact that Haley snubbed constituents worried about the newly expanded refugee resettlement program when it arrived in South Carolina two years ago, here is 
