Trump plans to drastically reduce the number of refugees – again | USA News

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The Trump administration plans to further reduce the annual ceiling for refugees as it diverts social workers to process refugee claims filed by Central American families on the southern border of the United States, a senior official said Friday.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump, who has campaigned for a limitation on immigration, has reduced the number of refugees admitted to the United States – decisions decried by human rights defenders and national security experts.

Last year, the administration limited the program to 30,000 refugees by 2019, compared to 45,000 in 2018, the lowest level since 1980.

Despite the ceiling of 45,000 last year, however, only 22,491 refugees were admitted, according to government data. In his last year in office, former President Barack Obama set the ceiling for 110,000 refugees.

Behind the cuts, there were stricter security protocols for citizens of 11 countries designated by the administration as posing the greatest potential threat.

The US Department of State acknowledged that the screening and selection procedures resulted in a decrease in the number of refugee admissions in 2018.

The narrower filtering of refugees reflects one of Trump's major problems. He imposed a travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries when he took office in January 2017.

Trump has not yet made a decision on the maximum number of refugees next year, the official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Senior management officials have not met yet to discuss the ceiling, set each year at the end of September.

But the official said the administration was using more of its resources to address the hundreds of thousands of mainly Central American families and children who had crossed the US border with Mexico in the past year, seeking refuge in the United States.

"We focused on managing the influx of asylum (at the US border) and prioritizing these cases," the official said.

Some administration officials have advocated for a number equal to or less than 15,000 people, according to two other officials in the administration. The officials were not allowed to speak in public and spoke to the Associated Press under the guise of anonymity.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has already transferred refugee caseworkers to asylum cases, and will continue to do so, reducing the number of refugee cases that can be processed, where that the ceiling be fixed. The official did not provide details on the number of agents in charge of the case who had been reassigned.

The New York Times announced Friday that senior officials would consider options at a meeting on Tuesday – which could include the actual end of the program, or the severe reduction of the ceiling and booking seats for a select group of countries .

Officials declined to say what options would be considered and when that would happen, but said it would be "better use of taxpayer money to resettle people closer to home ".

It's immoral & # 39;

Nearly 30,000 vulnerable refugees living abroad have already been interviewed for resettlement, said the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian aid group.

"Removing the carpet of refugees and the resettlement program, as it is said, is unfair, inhumane and strategically imperfect for the United States," said Nazanin Ash, vice president of the group.

On Wednesday, a group of retired US military generals and officers sent a letter to the Trump administration in which he expressed "serious concerns" about news of further cuts in refugee protection program.

"Providing shelter to the most vulnerable refugees – those who can not be safe in their first-aid country – bears witness to the humanitarian leadership of the United States and supports the stability of the region by preventing premature returns to torn or unstable countries by the war, "said the generals, pointing fingers at the thousands of interpreters, translators and other people on whom the US military sits overseas.

Democratic presidential candidates have also been quick to condemn possible cuts.

"It's immoral," tweeted Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. "Our laws and our values ​​force us to help those fleeing violence and oppression.As president, I will welcome at least 175,000 refugees a year by the end of my first term . "

Beto O. Rourke, a former US Congressman and presidential candidate, tweeted: "We need more refugees, not less."

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