United States Losing Credibility on Refugee Matters

From ABC News:

The U.S. is “slow-walking” the admissions process for refugees, according to national security experts and refugee advocacy groups, and the numbers appear to back that up.

At the halfway point of the U.S. government’s fiscal year, President Donald Trump’s administration has admitted fewer than half of the total number of refugees it said it would, already the lowest cap in the refugee program’s history.

National security experts and refugee advocacy groups warn that the administration is still slow-walking the admissions process, which damages American credibility and leadership abroad.

According to a review of the latest publicly available data, the U.S. has taken in 12,099 refugees since Oct. 1. That’s fewer than half of the 30,000 cap the administration committed to last fall, even at a time of historically high levels of refugees and displaced persons.

At the current pace, the U.S. would admit around 25,000 by fiscal year’s end, actually an increase from last year’s processing of 22,491 refugees, the second-lowest sum in the program’s nearly 45-year history.

But it pales in comparison to the average figure under previous administrations, both Republican and Democrat, which averaged 78,865. And while previous presidents of both parties largely met admission targets, a State Department spokesperson told ABC News the Trump administration is no longer committed to doing so. Read more…

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