Diaz: FY 21 Refugee Goal “Historic low for U.S. and Trump administration”
Washington, DC – When it comes to deciding how many refugees can start their lives anew in the United States this fiscal year, the Trump administration is a month late and 80,000 short of the historic average goal of 95,000 people. The administration is also restricting refugee arrivals based on limited categories of persecution and country of origin—meaning even fewer than 15,000 refugees will actually be resettled.
“This is an historic low for the United States and an historic low for the Trump administration,” said Elissa Diaz, Policy and Advocacy Manager with Church World Service and Chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC).
President Trump’s FY21 Presidential Determination on refugee resettlement, issued last night, offers only 15,000 of the world’s refugees a home in the United States, despite the record number of people globally who are in search of safety. Even then, additional and unnecessary restrictions make it very likely that the U.S. will be able to welcome far less than 15,000 people. Refugee resettlement organizations and faith leaders have been calling for a presidential determination of at least 95,000, the historic average in the life of the program, and expand the restrictive categories of refugee arrivals to include all other refugees.
The administration violated U.S. law by not consulting with Congress on its refugee admissions goal and failing to sign a formal refugee admissions goal, also known as a “Presidential Determination” or PD, before the start of the new fiscal year. It also added xenophobic rhetoric and disqualifications to a program that has bipartisan support.
Added Diaz: “President Trump never misses an opportunity to attack one of his favorite political targets, Somalia, and spew a nefarious and hateful narrative against this country, Syria, and Yemen–despite the grave dangers people are dealing with there. Refugees undergo the most extensive security screening and vetting processes of any person seeking to come to the United States. The additional restrictions that the administration added to the FY 2021 Presidential Determination are simply about dog whistle politics, nothing more. As a person of faith, I am absolutely outraged at the politicization of this life-saving, bipartisan program.”
Refugees are valued members of U.S. communities. They work alongside native-born Americans to protect us all, serving on the frontlines of COVID-19 response, and are our family members, neighbors, and friends. There are 176,000 refugees working in healthcare, and another 175,000 who are part of the nation’s food supply chain. The Presidential Determination’s language restricting resettlement to “States and localities that have clearly expressed their willingness to receive refugees” is another example of this administration’s toxic divisiveness.
Mark Hetfield, President and CEO of HIAS, the oldest refugee resettlement organization in the world, said: “This administration claims to stand up for the religiously persecuted and for law and order. But by setting an historically low resettlement goal once again, it has violated this commitment. This is unacceptable at any time, particularly during a global refugee crisis.”
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said: “This heartless decision is diametrically opposed to our values as a welcoming nation, and it dishonors our common humanity at a time of dire need. It demonstrates the tragic extent to which we have abandoned our Iraqi allies who risked their lives, and those of their family, to assist U.S. government and military personnel. In the place of leadership and moral authority, the administration has opted for xenophobic relics of U.S. immigration policy, banning swaths of people based solely on their religion and national origin.”
Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) said: “What is the value of just one life? To God, we are all members of the precious creation. Therefore, God calls us to be beacons of light in this world. As a church who has participated in refugee resettlement for decades, we understand that ministries involved in resettlement is an extension of God’s mercy, justice, and love. Our siblings clamor for justice, and how do we respond? Let us not live out of fear but out of the abundance God has offered. Let us not give into rhetoric that strives to stronghold the walls of hostility and division that were torn down by Christ’s reconciling love. We must seek ways to find justice in the ‘halls of power’ as God works through all of us to transform a broken world. Let us work to keep refugee resettlement a strong and robust response to our broken world. Justice-making is God’s light shining.”
“The Christian Reformed Church has been advocating for refugees since the 1960s, and as a person of faith, this is how we live our faith. God’s word tells us to love him, and to love each other,” said Colin P. Watson Sr., Executive Director of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. “God’s message is clear. No matter how different a person looks from me, or their experience differs from mine, I must care for them and protect them. This is a time for generosity, not selfishness. We are called to do even more. I also am an immigrant, and have seen the benefits of being resettled in a country that I have come to love deeply.”
“The Torah instructs us to welcome and love the stranger, va’ahavtem et ha-ger. This is repeated 36 times, far more often than any other Jewish law, stressing its importance to Jewish values,” said Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women. “The current administration deciding to let only 15,000 refugees into our nation in 2021 is an affront to these values. The National Council of Jewish Women has been working on issues of immigration for 127 years and we will not remain silent right now as the most vulnerable among us are in need. We must restore the basic principle that has guided America since its founding: that our nation is a home for all seeking a better life.”
“These policy decisions are shameful, cruel, and heartless,” Franciscan Action Network’s Stephen Schneck responded. “This administration again and again signals its disregard for the genuine humanitarian crisis facing refugees. It abandons long-standing precedent by administrations of both political parties going back decades, when the United States held out the open hand of welcome to the world’s desperate refugees. Now the desperate are spurned. Indeed, the administration is actively working against providing a path to protection, not only for UNHCR-designated refugees but also asylum seekers fleeing all forms of persecution and violence.”
“Over the last four years, the Trump Administration has cut the refugee admissions ceiling far below the historic annual average, resettling ever fewer refugees each year due to restrictive policies that make the already strenuous refugee resettlement process nearly insurmountable,” said Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. “Jews have known persecution since our early days as a people fleeing Egypt. We too know the consequences of closing doors to those seeking haven from that persecution. Once again, this administration has abdicated the United States’ moral and humanitarian responsibilities to welcome and protect refugees, and during the worst refugee crisis in global history.”
Rev. Terri Hord Owens, General Minister & President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the U.S. & Canada said: “Slashing U.S. resettlement numbers to less than one fifth of our nation’s historic average is a moral travesty and offense to the sacred and repeated calls of our scriptures to welcome the vulnerable. Consequences upon refugee families already approved and awaiting travel are cruel. In this crisis moment, following weeks of halted resettlement, our hearts mourn for families seeking hope. Faith partners have been a backbone of the bi-partisan, public-private partnerships that have sustained the U.S. refugee program, and we will not stop voicing our belief in the benefits of refugees to our communities and congregations. Today’s slammed door must be reopened, for the sake of both our faith calling to welcome, and our nation’s heritage of hospitality.”
“The U.S. is shredding its values by setting an all-time low number of 15,000 refugees to enter the country in 2021,” said Ronnate Asirwatham, Director Policy & Advocacy with Bridges Faith Initiative, an interfaith organization that supports refugee integration in the U.S. “At this time of great need, when there are 26 million refugees in this world, the U.S. should lead by example and set a number that is worthy of the United States’ values of welcome,” she added.
“The Trump administration’s continuing dismantling of the U.S. refugee resettlement program, in the face of an unprecedented global pandemic and continuing refugee crisis, is unconscionable. More than 26 million refugees, mostly children, have been forced from their homes. Fleeing persecution, they are quite literally running for their lives,” added Carol Zinn, SSJ, Executive Director, LCWR. “The United States has a long history of welcoming refugees, and women religious have been blessed to be able to accompany refugee communities. We strongly object to President Trump’s attempts to limit our ability to heed the scriptural command to welcome the stranger and care for the foreigner. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious urges our government to act with compassion for those most in need and rebuild the U.S. refugee program.”
“The current failure of leadership by the United States on refugee resettlement is a tragedy, both for the moral stature of our society and for the vulnerable refugee families around the world who will acutely suffer if we continue to close our doors,” said Susan Gunn, director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. “Maryknoll missioners overseas know the violence from which refugees flee and the conditions in which they are forced to live in refugee camps. When we deny refugees welcome, they remain in danger. We urge the Trump administration to consider the value refugees bring to our society as well as our nation’s duty to be a refuge for those in need. May we choose mercy and compassion by revitalizing the U.S. refugee program as soon as possible.”
“Once again, the president hit rock bottom and decided to keep digging. By further lowering the refugee admissions goal to a new historic low, he is slamming America’s door on the most at-risk. For those limited few that can now arrive, we are thankful, but for the many that will remain separated from their families, in harm’s way, this is a travesty. As people of faith we must now resolve ourselves to make Congress act, otherwise the lives of thousands of refugees, and that of the resettlement program itself, could be irreparably harmed,” said Rev. John L. McCullough, President and CEO of Church World Service.
He added: “This failure is not only a moral one, but a legal one: Although the administration was required by law to meet with Congress by September 30th, it willfully chose not to do so. Instead it waited four weeks, leaving the world’s most vulnerable in harm’s way while the White House played politics and thumbed its nose at our proud tradition of welcome. While for many this may be just a political issue, lowering the resettlement goal to a historic low puts real lives at stake.”
“As a church, we in the ELCA are committed to continuing ministries of welcome that support and build communities around the country and enrich the life of our nation,“ said Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, “As we have done throughout our history, I urge our elected officials to honor and continue our nation’s tradition of leadership in caring for refugees. The ELCA social message on immigration states our belief, ‘that our country has a responsibility to increase the number of refugees it admits’ (p. 9). This year Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and more than 230 ELCA Lutheran leaders called on the Trump administration to raise the refugee admissions ceiling to at least 95,000 refugees but as we have learned, at most 15,000 people fleeing persecution will be able find safe haven on our shores. The new ceiling set by the Administration for FY21, in addition to the significantly lower-than-ceiling admittance in FY20, has serious consequences for the global refugee crisis, prolonging the suffering of people waiting for a new home.”
“The U.S. must deepen its commitment to addressing the world’s worst humanitarian crises by offering refuge to those who need it most. As an international Catholic organization, we affirm the inherent dignity of every person and the right of refugees to seek security and safety for themselves and their families,” said Joan Rosenhauer, Executive Director at JRS/USA.
“2020 is not the sort of year we expected. With the pandemic health crisis, economic crisis, and election campaign, 2020 is set to be remembered as a year of fear, isolation, violence, and a protectionist ‘me first’ policy. And people fleeing persecution and violence in their own countries are bearing the gravest of burdens. All of which makes the Trump administration’s decision to allow only 15,000 people into the U.S. morally questionable. The U.S. has always had it within our means to extend the warmth of welcome to many more refugees than we do. We call on Congress to right this wrong,” said Lawrence E. Couch, Director of the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
“In the midst of a refugee crisis compounded by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government has signaled to the world that it is willing to accept an historically low number of families fleeing persecution. As Christians, Cooperative Baptists take seriously the commandments to love our neighbors and welcome the stranger. As Baptists, we value religious freedom and champion religious liberty for all. As a result, CBF field personnel minister to communities of persecuted refugees across the globe and here in the U.S. We urge the President to reconsider and set a robust refugee admissions goal that reflects our value of welcoming the stranger. We should affirm again our role as a refuge for the persecuted where the vulnerable can find compassion, freedom, generosity and welcome,” said Rev. Dr. Paul Baxley, Executive Coordinator, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, said: “At a time when refugees worldwide are seeking safety and security, the decision to further restrict admissions to a historic low is outrageous. The Bible tells us ‘show hospitality to strangers’ and people in need (Lev. 19:33-34; Matt. 25:35; Heb. 13:2). This action is antithetical to that command. The United Methodist Church has engaged in acts of welcome and refugee resettlement worldwide and will continue this witness, despite exclusionary harmful policies. As United Methodists, we are called to welcome refugees in our communities and congregations.”
“The refugee program was born out of faith communities joining together to welcome those facing persecution. This is an ancient tradition that has become part of the fabric of this nation and is deeply interwoven with the basic principles of what it means to be a democracy,” said the Rev. John Dorhauer, United Church of Christ General Minister and President. “This administration, with its refusal again to consult with Congress in a timely manner, has shown disinterest in those most in need. It has slashed the refugee program more than 80% in the last three years. Lowering the refugee admissions goal yet again is unacceptable. The U.S. should be welcoming 95,000, the annual average over forty years since Congress passed the Refugee Act in 1980. Welcoming refugees and asylum seekers has long been part nation’s laws and part of our moral responsibility.”
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition is made up of over 55 national, faith-based organizations brought together across many theological traditions with a common call to seek just policies that lift up the God-given dignity of every individual. In partnership, we work to protect the rights, dignity, and safety of all refugees and migrants.
Follow us on Twitter @interfaithimm
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