According to the State Department only 1,242 refugees were admitted into the U.S. in October 2017 compared to the 9,945 admitted in Oct. 2016 under the Obama administration. This 87% decline can be contributed to Pres. Trump’s executive order for tougher vetting procedures for refugees and capping the number of refugees to 45,000 for the fiscal year.
Last night the Trump administration submitted its report to Congress that will set the refugee cap for FY 2018 to 45,000, a drastic decline from the 85,000 Pres. Obama set in FY16. Under the Refugee Act of 1980 the president has the power to set the refugee admissions cap and this is the lowest cap since the program began in 1975.
Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act (H.R. 2826) introduced by Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee Chairman Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho) by a 15-11 vote. This bill would reduce the refugee cap and would give more power to Congress and the states to decide how many refugees the U.S. should take in and where the refugees should be settled.
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) wrote an op-ed in The Daily Caller calling on Congress to deny Pres. Obama’s demand to increase funding to the refugee resettlement program to $3.9 billion. This is nearly a 250% increase that will support settling refugees and illegal alien border-crossers in the United States.
While updating the Senate intelligence committee today, CIA Director, John Brennan, said that ISIS is training operatives and attempting to enter the U.S. through “refugee flows, smuggling routes and legitimate methods of travel”.
The Obama Administration continues to work towards reaching its goal of accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees before the end of the fiscal year, but a top U.N official said last week that most of those fleeing Syria are not refugees at all. Michael Møller, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, said most Syrians are fleeing to pursue educational opportunities.
The Migration Policy Institute released a recent report showing that “more children of refugees receive cash assistance (and other welfare benefits) than other U.S. children.” Around 30% of refugee children receive welfare benefits compared to 26% of nonrefugee immigrant children.
To reach President Obama’s goal in bringing in at least 10,000 additional Syrian refugees to the U.S. this year the Obama administration has opened up a new resettlement center and has shortened the processing time from around 18-24 months down to just three months.
In the aftermath of the Paris and Brussels terrorist attacks the European Union’s own border agency, Frontex, has admitted that there is no way to effectively screen or track refugees coming across the border. The report also admitted that the large number of refugees pose a security threat for the EU countries.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) introduced the Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act (H.R. 4731) that would reduce the refugee cap to 60,000 and would give more power to Congress and the states to decide how many refugees the U.S. should take in and where the refugees should be settled.
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows that 56% of Americans think the U.S. should take in fewer refugees or none at all. This number has increased from 41% in September, mainly due to the terrorist attacks in Paris where at least one of the terrorists had entered the country as a refugee.
Sen Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) sent a letter to the Appropriations Committee asking them to cancel the “blank check” for the Obama administration’s increased refugee limits.
Obama administration officials told the Senate Judiciary Committee during an oversight hearing on Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security has approved approximately 90% of refugee applications from Syrians despite not having and adequate way to run background checks.
Sen. Jeff Sessions says the Obama administration’s goal to resettle nearly 200,000 refugees in the U.S. over the next two years will have serious fiscal and national security consequences.
At a meeting in Berlin, Germany Secretary of State, John Kerry, said that the U.S. will not stop at the proposed additional 10,000 Syrians coming to the U.S. next year. He said the Obama administration plans on increasing the cap for worldwide refugees from 70,000 to 100,000 by 2017.
