Trump has power to stop refugee flow, will he also
slow flow of our $$$ to UN? by
Ann Corcoran 11/25/16
All over the country, as we have
been reporting, refugee advocates are having pow-wows and crying sessions about
what Donald Trump might do about refugees on January 21st.
Many of those advocates have gotten
comfortable, and felt safe in their jobs, through several Presidents including
Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama, but all that is expected to change.
This is a story from New
Hampshire Public Radio (Clinton
country) where experts try to predict what is coming. The first quotes are from Chris
George from the New Haven, CT resettlement agency. We told you about him here last week. He is hoping we still take in Obama’s last
wish—110,000 this fiscal year.
Asst. Professor Ruxandra Paul
(Amherst): Trump on solid ground to cut flow of refugees, but she worries that
other countries will follow suit. However, one thing never mentioned is that we
are far and away the world leader in PERMANENTLY resettling refugees, most
countries, including most European countries, do not admit permanent refugees.
Then we hear from a law professor who argues that we have given Presidents too much
power. As far as the Refugee
Act of 1980 goes, the crafters of the law (all Dems) gave the
President power. Congress was expected to “consult” and weigh in, but that body
has until very recently ignored its role.
(Only Senator Sessions held a
required hearing on Obama’s plan, the House has
been silent under Rep. Trey Gowdy’s chairmanship of the immigration
subcommittee.)
New Hampshire Public Radio: “A
president can exercise the highest level of authority, when it comes to border
control or foreign policy,” says Sudha Setty from Western New England
University Law. “So in terms of setting that refugee ceiling for future fiscal years,
future President Trump does have the authority to set that ceiling very low.”
Setty said Trump’s freedom to
exercise sweeping decisions, like banning Muslims from entering the U.S.
continues a disturbing trend of the last two administrations.
“The lesson of the last 15 years has been that we have given the
president a tremendous amount of power. And
we have not put into place a lot of accountability measures when it comes to
anything that is deemed to be national security or terrorism or national
security related, and that’s not changing any time soon.”
Next up is another assistant
professor with a little nugget that is
useful. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees gets $1.5 BILLION a year from us
(and not mentioned here is the fact that the UN is choosing most of our
refugees).
Amherst College Political Scientist
Ruxandra Paul is watching both sides of the Atlantic right now. She says if
U.S. leadership changes direction on its decades long commitment to refugee
resettlement, more global uncertainty is sure to come.
“Donald Trump has been suggesting
that the US has contributed too much and that allies from western Europe are
not covering their share of the burden.”
Last year the U.S. gave the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) more than $1.5
billion. The European Union next in line, followed by several European
countries, gave in the hundreds of millions. [We gave a half a billion here just in July—ed]
From a legal perspective President Donald Trump will be on solid ground
if he chooses to lower the refugee ceiling. If
he does, Paul says, it’s possible other countries will do likewise.
Nikki Haley? In
light of that bit of information, that the UNHCR gets $1.5 billion a year from
us, is Nikki Haley going to be tough enough and would she be able to deal
with the
refugee issue which The News
& Observer, a North Carolina paper, says is one of four major UN issues she will
have to confront? Will
Senator Lindsey (Open Borders!) Graham be coaching from behind the curtain?
Ambassador to the UN is not a little
out-of-the-way job and will depend greatly on who Trump picks for the Secretary
of State which she will be reporting to! Placing Haley there is not putting her
in a place to simply keep enemies close. A deputy assistant job in the Labor
Department would have been a better fit.
If Trump does go hardline on refugees and wants the UN funding cut
would Haley resign and cause him a PR embarrassment down the road? I
think she would (and the likes of Senator Lindsey Graham will be cheering her
on from the sidelines as they prepare for 2020)!
Here The News & Observer ponders the question about refugees: Trump wants to end
Muslim migration to the U.S. until terrorist threats are addressed, banning
refugees fleeing violence in countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. This
policy directly violates international law, which stipulates that other
countries have an obligation to take in people seeking refuge from persecution
in their home country and cannot bar refugees based on origin. [Trump (we hope) will follow US law which
gives him the power to limit refugee flow, not international law!—ed]
Although Haley opposes Trump’s outright Muslim ban, she was among 30 governors who demanded Syrian refugees
not be resettled in their states, citing security concerns. A spokeswoman for
the governor said last year that until refugees can be properly vetted “it’s
not appropriate for them to be sent to South Carolina or any other state.” [Just words and they all knew it!—ed]
New UN Secretary General, Antonio
Guterres, is, from our point of view, the worst possible UN leader they could
have chosen.
Refugees are not allowed into the
country until they pass a series of background and health checks, a process
that can take up to two years. Governors can’t legally stop refugees from being
resettled in their states. [For the
umpteenth time, the Syrian screening has been reduced to 3 months and we do
admit refugees with TB and other diseases.—ed]
Incoming U.N. Secretary
General Antonio Guterres is likely to resist any American efforts to dismantle
refugee programs. He formerly served as the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees and is a strong advocate for wealthy countries doing their fair share
to help the most vulnerable. He will take office Jan. 1.
This last makes me wonder (again)
whether the Trump transition team has any idea of what they are up against at
the UN and how those of us who voted for Trump feel about the ‘world body.’
Endnote: If you were digesting your
Thanksgiving meal and didn’t read my post last night, here it is. Islamists say their long game is to take America down
through immigration and out-breeding us!
Comments
Refugees
should not be allowed to stay in the US.
They need to be returned to their home countries.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment