Trump’s refugee admissions in the coming year could fall even further than the all-time low of 18,000 his admin proposed last month. The reason: heightened vetting, a lack of political will, new hard-to-fill carveouts, and a freeze on refugee interviews politico.com/news/2019/10/1…
“He’s basically trying to eviscerate and totally destroy the program,” said Kerri Talbot, director of federal advocacy for the pro-migrant Immigration Hub. “Their ultimate goal is just to decrease legal immigration into the United States, including refugees.”
The Trump administration set aside 4,000 refugee spaces for Iraqis who aided U.S. forces in their plan for the coming year. But last year, the U.S. only accepted 465 total Iraqi refugees, a slowdown caused by increased vetting and a lack of political will
They also dedicated 1,500 refugee spaces to people in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Last year, the US admitted just 503 refugees from those countries, despite a 3,000-person cap for Latin America
“By definition, they have no infrastructure on the ground,” one administration official said of UNHCR’s current capability in the Northern Triangle. “They haven’t put people in the field yet to do these things.”
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