Testimony to the US State
Department from Deborah in California, by Ann Corcoran 5/23/16
Editor: I am still combing through my hundreds
of e-mails to find the testimony you sent to the US State Department in response
to the DOS request for public comment on the “size and scope” of the UN/US
Refugee Admissions Program for FY2017.
The day before
the deadline for submission of testimony I noticed (maybe you were all ahead of
me and noticed!) that the dates were wrong in the Federal Register. I
happened to see a comment sent by lawyers to the DOS asking that the comment
period be re-opened because citizens, who might like to have testified, didn’t
think the notice was for a comment period this year, but for last year. See
here. Most go to
California and Texas.
To Anne .C
.Richard, UN/US State Dept Refugee Admissions Program
As an American
citizen who immigrated to this country well over ten years ago I am writing to
voice my opinion on the influx of refugees being brought to the U.S. by your
dept and this administration. I realize this country has a long standing
precedent for allowing immigrants as I was one myself but by ignoring the set
procedures in order to bring more in you are risking the safety of every
American already here. You must resist the urge to accommodate the will of the current
administration and look to the future and the outcome of rushing these
immigrants through without proper vetting.
Without
screening these refugees for TB, as well as other communicable diseases, (which
every legal immigrant has to do) you risk further strain on our already
weakened health care system. Legal immigrants must agree to not be a burden on the welfare system
which does not apply to these refugees. How is that possibly fair, to
penalize those that want to willingly come to this country, verses those that
will not assimilate and expect to be financially cared for?
Even in my
community I can see the strain this overworked system is having on the lives of
Americans and it breaks my heart. I cannot understand how changing the length
of the vetting process from 18 months to 3 months is either beneficial or practical
especially in light of the current global upheavals both in the United States
and abroad.
As a sovereign
nation with a long history of charity for our global brothers and sisters I
strongly request that the influx of unvetted refugees be reverted back to the
original 18 month timeline with emphasis on reducing the volume and increasing
the scrutiny. We as a nation are currently going through extreme political
changes. It
is important to note that this current administration will soon be surrendering
the reigns to a new leader and since the voice of the people have loudly and
universally rejected continuing the status quo I again ask that you take that
fact into consideration when setting refugee admission guidelines for the 2017
year.
This is the
fifteenth testimony in our series leading up to the deadline for comments to
the Dept. of State on May 19th. Go
here for where they
are archived to see what your fellow citizens have said.
I intend to
keep posting testimonies, a few a day, until I have exhausted my long list! I
had no idea so many of you would respond to my offer! But, thank you for
your hard work!
P.S. I should
have mentioned it, but I have been adding photos and other images just to jazz
up the plain text, I hope you all don’t mind!
wordpress.com/2016/05/23/testimony-to-the-us-state-department-from-deborah-in-california/
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