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Catherine Rampell Profile picture
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20 Apr, 3 tweets, 1 min read
Today I wrote about how the ghost of Stephen Miller still haunts U.S. immigration policy, including refugee policy. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Miller worked to confuse the public & convince them that *all* immigrants are somehow intrinsically "illegal" scary criminals—even refugees, who submit to years of background checks pre-arrival. Biden's wavering on refugees, & conflation w border issues, play into this propaganda
And right on cue, I get this #readermail. Again, this message was in response to a column about *refugees,* persecuted people who arrive here lawfully, with a visa, only after years of extensive national security/law enforcement/medical screening.

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More from @crampell

Catherine Rampell Profile picture
21 Apr
“They made the calculation that in political terms this would be something that could be used against them...The waffling is probably going to be used against them more than if they'd just stuck with doing the right thing.”
politi.co/3eht569
Much of reporting about why Biden delayed implementing, & then reneged on, his promised 62.5k refugee cap suggests it was driven by fear of how Republicans would portray a higher cap—that GOP would conflate refugees w border surge & falsely accuse Dems of promoting "open borders" Image
My feeling is: There's a useful analogy in an observation made last year by now-Sec. Pete Buttigieg. As he noted during primary, no matter what the Democratic economic agenda, Repubs would accuse Dems of socialism. So might as well just pursue econ policies they think are good
Read 5 tweets
Catherine Rampell Profile picture
14 Apr
White House correspondents have asked Psaki at least 6 times when Biden is going to raise the refugee ceiling/lift Trump refugee restrictions, as Biden announced he'd do. She has not answered. Response typically some combo of "Biden remains committed to refugees" + "no updates"
Feb 2 (from before Biden's State Dept sent a report to Congress on 2/12 about proposed 62,500 cap & admission categories) whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
March 4 whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
Read 9 tweets
Catherine Rampell Profile picture
14 Apr
Another survey about expected elements of Biden's infrastructure/families plans finds every item has support from majority of the public today.yougov.com/topics/politic…
Views on different elements vary by party. Here's net support (% "favor" minus % "oppose") by party affiliation of survey respondent.
When presented options for an infrastructure bill defined more narrowly (just roads+bridges) vs more broadly (those things + energy, water, housing, healthcare, manuf, etc), public prefers broader version by about 2:1.
The broader version is Biden's approach; narrower is GOP's
Read 5 tweets
Catherine Rampell Profile picture
13 Apr
Lots of people have written to me arguing for cutting Biden slack, he's cleaning up Trump's immigration messes, the record-low refugee admissions we're on track for must somehow be Trump's fault, etc. Some thoughts on this line of argument... 🧵washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
I wholeheartedly agree that Trump did a lot to hobble the U.S. immigration system, including the refugee system. I wrote about this in depth last year: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
It will take a lot of work and resources to rebuild that immigration infrastructure & the refugee pipeline in particular. Not just scaling up circuit rides & other parts of the screening process, but reopening local resettlement agency affiliates that have closed, etc.
Read 11 tweets
Catherine Rampell Profile picture
12 Apr
Biden is on track to accept fewest refugees of any modern president, including Trump. washingtonpost.com/politics/biden…
Biden has offered more pro-immigrant rhetoric, but he maintains Trump's discriminatory policies that effectively bar most refugees from African/Muslim countries. Biden announced he'd reverse these policies in early Feb, and then never signed the paperwork. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
If anything, monthly refugee admissions have *slowed* since Biden took office
Trump signed his FY2021 refugee ceiling ("presidential determination") late, on 10/27/20 (FY began 10/1). In Trump's last full month in office, Dec, 598 refugees were admitted
In March, under Biden: 271
Read 5 tweets
Catherine Rampell Profile picture
8 Apr
Still no explanation for why Biden hasn't signed the paperwork, which he said he'd do back in Feb.
And to be clear: issue isn't only raising "cap"; it's also removing discriminatory restrictions Trump put in place, which effectively barred refugees from Muslim & African countries
It will be difficult to fill even the ultra-low 15k "cap" currently in place, if these restrictive criteria remain. In fact Biden is now on track to admit fewest refugees in a fiscal year of any POTUS since the modern refugee program began (this record currently belongs to Trump)
As of March 31, only 2,050 refugees have been admitted in FY 2021. Fiscal year is half over. So if same pace continues, we would expect ~4,100 refugees resettled here by end of FY.
In FY 2020, under Trump, 11,814 refugees were admitted -- and that was a record low.
Read 6 tweets

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