While Everyone’s Been Distracted, Trump
Reduced Muslim Refugees 93%, BY KARA PENDLETON, 1/3/19.
The refugee arrivals numbers
are in, and there’s good news and bad news. The
numbers are calculated based on the fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 through
Sept. 30, according to the Cato
Institute.
Early on, President Donald
Trump was attacked over the travel ban. Some claimed it was a Muslim ban, but
it was not.
It had been used by
President Barack Obama, as well. The focus was on restricting entry to the
United States from people coming from countries that were known as terrorism
hotbeds.
In September 2017, CNN reported that the
Trump administration would “dramatically reduce the number of refugees allowed
to resettle in the United States, bringing the number to less than half of what
former President Barack Obama had proposed for the current fiscal year.” And
the number of refugees for the last fiscal year has shown a significant
decline.
Cato reported that the
number of Muslim refugees had been reduced by a staggering 93 percent. This is
not because of their religion, but the region of the world they are coming
from.
In his part of fiscal year
2017, Obama admitted 304 refugees from Iraq and 27 from Syria. In his part of
fiscal year 2017, Trump admitted only 74 refugees from Iraq and 4 from Syria.
That meant in fiscal year
2017, a total of 378 refugees were admitted into the United States from Iraq. A
total of 31 came in from Syria.
In fiscal year 2018, only 3
were allowed in from Iraq. Only 2 refugees from Syria were admitted into the
United States.
While that is a dramatic
difference, when viewed by religion, the bad news comes into play. While on the campaign
trail, Trump promised to help Christian refugees, who were largely overlooked
by the Obama administration and typically faced violence and the threat of
death in their home regions.
The reduction in admissions
has hit Christians, too, with the numbers being
lowered by 64 percent.
Trump “has also cut Syrian
Christian refugee arrivals by 94 percent and those from Iraq by 99 percent,”
according to Cato. “He has admitted just 20 Syrian Christians in all of Fiscal
Year 2018.”
With all of the migrant caravan and border wall talk, the issue
of refugees seeking asylum due to
life-threatening danger in their home countries has been a hot topic. But that
also applies to Christians in the Middle East.
If the United States is
going to offer asylum to those who are fleeing for their lives, shouldn’t the
promise be kept to help Christians who are being persecuted because of their
religious beliefs? If the plan is to not take in any asylum seekers or refugees
at all, then why is anyone allowed to make such claims at the southern U.S.
border currently?
If the U.S. is going to
take in refugees, then those legitimately fleeing for their lives should be
given priority. If the U.S. is going to give asylum to those whose lives are in
danger, Christians coming from countries where they are persecuted should be
able to get our help.
It seems that in the
process of cutting down admissions from certain countries, Christians are
getting caught up in the mix. There needs to be a better way to address the
issue — one that will help rather than hurt those in need.
The Cato Institute did
note that Trump may not be aware of the problem. They wrote that if he isn’t,
and is made aware of it, he could initiate changes that would see not only a
correction to the problem, but his keeping yet another campaign promise.
Win-Win.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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