Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump is considering admitting much fewer refugees in the US this year – only 7,500, and mostly white South Africans, officials say – a dramatic new low point Sweeping Immigration -Invals As part of his mass expansion of deportation.
The new figures were not completed by the Donald Trump administration or officially transferred to the congress as required by last week's deadline, according to two people familiar with the situation that anonymity got because they were not authorized to discuss it with the media.
The reduced number of refugees would be a grim deviation from the higher figures that are traditionally permitted in the US – the Biden administration last year set a target of 125,000 refugee admissions. And proponents warn that it would essentially bump from the line those who have already been screened and are awaiting approvals. It is all when the Department of Homeland Security is busy with a harsh action against immigrants in American cities, including this last weekend in Chicago, and recruiting officers with a social media campaign to “recover our national identity”.
“This would be a monumental shift in American refugee policy, not only in terms of reducing admission, but also in terms of the disproportionate privileges of one group,” said Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the resorting organization, Global Refuge.
“Our concern is that this can turn a global responsive humanitarian system into one that promotes a single group overwhelming,” said Vignarajah.
Trump suspended the refugee program in January
The refugee program – which once had widespread two -part support – was suspended on the first day at Trump's office.
Since then, only a ray of refugees has been admitted to the country, either as part of a continuous lawsuit that wants to resume the program or as part of a new refugee program for Afrikaners who announced Trump in February. The administration says that the white South African farmers are confronted with discrimination and violence, which strongly denies the government of the country.
The White House said that the refugee cap is not final until the administration consults with the congress, according to an official who granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation.
The civil servant and one of the other people said that due to the closure of the federal government, no refugees will be admitted during the new tax year, which started on October 1, until the government is reopened, although the program is suspended, few are let in as is.
About 128,000 refugees are currently approved for resettlement in the United States and are now stuck in Limbo, said Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, the Jewish Refugee Resettlement Agency. Moreover, 14,000 Jews, Christians and other religious minorities in Iran have long been registered with the refugee program.
“How can a president who claim to stand for religious and American values and claims to support legal and orderly migration, turn their back on so many refugees who followed the rules, while white South Africans go to the front of the line?” he said.
The expected recordings are lower than proponents hoped
The 7,500 number is a dramatic reduction of the already historically low refugee report that Trump brought forward during his first term and also far below what had feared for the proponents of refugees, the target for the coming tax year would be.
In early until mid-September, organizations that assist refugees started the alarm to complain that the administration considered a limit of around 30,000, with most of those places reserved for white South Africans.
At the time, administration officers said that the figures were in Flux and the White House would require, but did not give any indications that the total number could be cut by more than 20,000 what the lawyers had feared.
While the government's closure appeared last week, these officials began to say that no definitive determination would be brought until the congress was consulted and that it was unlikely until the closure was over.
A high American officer said on Saturday that such a consultation is still required and would probably not take place until the government goes back to work.
But the civil servant also noted that 7,500 recordings in the current tax year would be “considerably more” than was allowed since Trump took office for the second time in January.
Other refugees can remain in the dark
Certain legislators in the congress have insisted on the White House for the official notification, which was legally required against the deadline of 30 September.
The ranking democrats in the judicial committees of the house and the Senate who deal with immigration measures said that the Trump government is “in open resistance of the law”.
Refugees are left in “Limbo”, wrote senator Richard Durbin van Illinois, rep. Jamie Raskin from Maryland and other top democrats on the judicial panels in a letter last week. “The consequences are terrible.”
They said that thousands of people are confronted abroad “who have already met rigorous control -requirements” are left to roads in refugees, while Trump “picks up exceptions to white South African farmers, allowing Afrikaners to skip the line.”
__ Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego and Rebecca Santana in Washington, DC, contributed to this report.
