Thread by @AliVelshi

1/27
This week President Biden announced a plan to streamline the process of admitting Ukrainian refugees into the United States. The new program will require Ukrainians to have a sponsor in the U.S. who can “attest to their ability to support them.” #velshi

2/27
This builds on Biden’s earlier promise to welcome 100,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war. The United Nations says more than 5.1 million people have fled Ukraine from the start of this conflict. And even more are displaced inside the country. #velshi

3/27
Poland has, by far, welcomed the most Ukrainian refugees of any country: 2.8 million. Romania has admitted 774,000 and Hungary has taken in 485,000. In comparison, America’s proposed 100,000 is a drop in the bucket. #velshi

4/27
But, if you look at how many refugees the United States takes in yearly, 100,00 is massive by U.S. standards. #velshi

5/27
Every year, the President sets a quota for how many refugees America will accept. For decades, the U.S. was the leader in refugee resettlement - according to the Pew Research Center. #velshi

6/27
Until it lost its footing in 2017, when a particular xenophobic nationalist moved into the White House. America has always benefitted from admitting refugees, even though that's not the reason to do so. The very first settlers to come here from Europe were refugees. #velshi

7/27
The pilgrims fled to the shores of America to escape persecution. Their quest for safety and identity became the root of America’s own identity. And it still is. #velshi

8/27
From the birth of this nation, different presidential administrations have varied on their effectiveness and humanity toward refugees, immigrants and even American citizens of different origins. One of America’s ugliest moments came right before World War II. #velshi

9/27
As the groundwork for the Holocaust was being laid in Germany: Jews faced harassment, discrimination and political persecution. So, they fled. #velshi

10/27
The S.S. St. Louis - a ship full of more than 900 mostly Jewish refugees - sailed toward the Florida coast after already being denied landing by Cuba. The ship was then turned away by America. And those 900 Jews were sent back to an uncertain fate in Europe. #velshi

11/27
For about one-third of the St. Louis passengers – America’s rejection was a death sentence. In 1945, after World War II, President Harry Truman attempted to make things right with the Truman Directive. #velshi

12/27
He signed an executive order, using existing immigration laws to advocate for *refugees* coming into the U.S. from Europe and the former Soviet Union. From 1949-1952, about half the 900,000 immigrants that entered the United States were considered displaced persons. #velshi

13/27
Fast forward to 1956. The Hungarian revolution sparked another presidential directive. President Eisenhower allowed about 30,000 Hungarian refugees into the country. #velshi

14/27
America was largely receptive of these refugees partly because of the positive image the government and media painted of them: well-educated people who wished to integrate into American culture. #velshi

15/27
In 1959, a wave of Cuban refugees fled to the United States after Fidel Castro’s guerilla fighters toppled the government. America saw them as welcome-newcomers who brought economic revitalization to south Florida. But everything changed on September 11th, 2001. #velshi

16/27
The 9/11 terrorists attacks put a hold on immigration reforms, refugee intake plummeted and it created rampant anti-Muslim sentiment among some Americans and politicians. #velshi

17/27
Between the years 2000 and 2002, President George Bush reduced the refugee ceiling from 90,000 to 70,000. President Obama worked to rebuild the refugee resettlement system when the world needed it most. #velshi

18/27
In 2015, millions of Middle Eastern refugees were fleeing several bloody conflicts in the region. The Obama administration raised the ceiling to 85,000 refugees in 2016. The next year, Obama proposed an increase to 110,000. #velshi

19/27
But, then a new President, who had launched his campaign in a zeal of xenophobia, came along and slashed those numbers. #velshi

20/27
By 2020, the American refugee cap was just 18,000 a year - the lowest in U.S. history, at a time when the America had received its highest number of applicants ever, mostly from Central America. #velshi

21/27
Under the Trump administration - and in the minds of many Americans today - there was this assumption that refugees pose a national security threat to the United States: A false narrative that letting people in, exposes America to danger. #velshi

22/27
Interestingly, this is not the conversation you’ll hear around Ukrainian refugees. No one is assuming that these Ukrainian women and children are criminals or terrorists. That rhetoric seems reserved solely for black and brown migrants. #velshi

23/27
This is just a snapshot of America’s fraught history with refugees. There are not enough hours in the day - let alone in this show - to cover all the world’s displaced people and the conflicts that have chased them from their homes. #velshi

24/27
Though we try hard to keep our lights shining on them on this show. America has always been better off because of the immigrants and refugees who settle here. Always. #velshi

25/27
They typically come here ready to participate in what they believe to be the liberties that exist in America. Refugees are not a burden; they are an opportunity. #velshi

26/27
America seems willing to give Ukrainian refugees the opportunity to work hard and thrive in this nation. #velshi

27/27
Let this be a blueprint for how *all* refugees are treated in America - no matter their skin color, religion, education, skill-set, wealth. And irrespective of the conflict from which they are running. #velshi