President Trump Considers Additional Cuts in Refugee Admissions in Response to Border Crisis

As the migrant crisis at our southern border with Mexico gets worse with no help from Congress, the Trump administration is looking for various ways to relieve the tremendous overload on our immigration system caused by the massive influx of asylum-seekers from Central America. One of the ways the Trump administration is reportedly considering to offset this influx of border crossers seeking asylum would involve further significant cuts in the maximum number of refugees applying outside the United States for refugee status who can be admitted to the United States and resettled here. These individuals normally initiate their claims through the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHRC), with the hope of then being allowed to resettle within the United States if their applications are approved by U.S. officials. The ceilings are approved each year by the president after consultation with Congress. It’s one of the few ways the president can exercise discretion, without judicial interference, to control the overall number of asylum-seekers resettled in this country.

The ceiling for admission of asylum-seekers making their claims outside of the U.S. now stands at 30,000 for fiscal year 2019, down from 45,000 in fiscal year 2018. Out of the 92,400 refugees resettled globally in 2018, according to UNHCR data, the U.S. ended up actually resettling 22,900 refugees (24.7 percent of the global total). Only 25 countries stepped up to resettle refugees in their countries during 2018. The Trump administration has nothing to apologize for in reducing its refugee intake, despite the relentless attacks from the left. And the administration will have nothing to apologize for if it decides to take further action to lower the refugee ceiling in order to counterbalance the surge of asylum-seekers crossing the U.S. border from Central America. The open-borders crowd has no answers except to welcome all comers, whether they are aliens entering the country illegally to seek asylum here or applicants from terrorist-prone countries applying for refugee status.

The most drastic option under review for 2020 is to reduce the outside refugee applicant admissions ceiling to zero, with emergency exceptions to be approved by the president. The second option would reduce the present 30,000 ceiling level to between 10 and 15 thousand, with preferences going to nationals such as Iraqis and Afghans who have assisted U.S. troops, intelligence operatives and diplomats. “The issue is expected to come to a head on Tuesday,” according to the New York Times, “when White House officials plan to convene a high-level meeting to discuss the annual number of refugee admissions for the coming year, as determined by President Trump.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted, before any final decision has been announced, that the refugee ceiling reduction proposals under consideration are “immoral.” She pledged that “(A)s president, I’ll welcome at least 175,000 refugees per year by the end of my first term.” The Obama administration’s last stated annual goal was 110,000 admittees, which was bad enough. Warren’s 175,000 per year target will likely end up becoming a floor, not a ceiling, for the number of new refugees she would admit to this country who first apply outside the U.S. And they would be in addition to the hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers who manage to make it to the United States on their own from Central America and elsewhere in unprecedented numbers. These individuals are claiming refugee status too, but they are doing so with their feet. Many are exploiting our current immigration laws, which allow them to make their asylum claims directly to U.S. authorities once they set foot on U.S. soil and stay in the U.S. while their asylum applications are being considered. Warren continues to support this broken system. In fact, she would open the door even wider to welcome those claiming to flee domestic violence and seeking asylum protections for gender identity-based asylum claims.

Read the rest from Joseph Klein HERE.

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