Refugee Freeze Begins

He did it! President Donald Trump signed the executive order on refugees, by Ann Corcoran 1/27/17 

I happened to catch him signing as I came in just before 5 p.m. today.  But, will have to wait for the exact details of the order’s text.

We believe it includes a 120-day moratorium, a cap on refugee resettlement for this fiscal year at 50,000 and some kind of inter-agency directive to improve the vetting process (the so-called extreme vetting).  Earlier today we pointed out that 50,000 was not that great a reduction, here.

Now the ball must be placed in Congress’ court! Every effort must be made in those 120 days to pressure Congress to begin to reform the entire Refugee Admissions Program.

I suspect many members of Congress gave a sigh of relief that Donald Trump was going to take the heat (and oh, there will be heat, more on that later), so they can pretend something is being done and THEY DON’T HAVE TO DO IT. Trump has taken the monkey off their backs, you must put it right back on!

I’m telling you that if the law is not changed we will be back to square one come the end of May!  The President’s pen and phone can only do so much. The next President can undo it all, if the law is not rewritten.

So Trump should threaten to extend that moratorium unless Congress begins the hard work of reevaluating and ultimately rewriting the Refugee Act of 1980.

And, if there are any brave Senators or Members of Congress willing to take the lead, that legislator should hold field hearings around the country to hear directly from citizens about the impact more immigrant labor is having on local workers, to hear about the economic challenges local and state governments are facing, and to assess the cultural upheaval communities are experiencing.

Do not stop doing whatever you are doing in your pockets of resistance, but make sure everything you do gets to the ears of your member of Congress and US Senators. See our complete Trump Watch! archive here.

https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2017/01/27/he-did-it-president-donald-trump-signed-the-executive-order-on-refugees/

Comments

We need the new Immigration law to return to the immigration law we had before 1965. We also need to deny welfare for all immigrants. We will ultimately need to ban Sharia law in the US. Immigrants and refugees will need sponsors and should not be admitted unless all their papers are in order and we know who they are and where they came from. 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader