{UAH} THE MAN OF GOD HAS JUST PUT OUT THE NEW REFUGEE NUMBERS -Here we go !!!!!

Trump to cut refugees to 18,000, give localities veto over resettlement

New plan will prioritize religious minorities, reduce role of U.N.

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times
Updated: 5:02 p.m. on Thursday, September 26, 2019

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The Trump administration on Thursday proposed cutting the number of refugees admitted next year to 18,000, and called for a major revamp of the program to align it with U.S. interests, including giving localities a say in whether they can accommodate the new arrivals.

The new plan will also reduce the role of the U.N. in picking America’s refugees, and instead give priority to religious minorities and Iraqis who have assisted the U.S. government, and to refugees the U.S has agreed to resettle on behalf of Australia.

Officials submitted the proposal to Congress Thursday, kicking off a consultation period that will conclude with President Trump making a final determination next month.

But based on past consultations, the 18,000 number is likely to hold firm.

It would be the lowest cap since the modern refugee system was created in 1980, and marks a 12,000 drop from the fiscal year 2019 cap, and a major reduction from the 110,000 refugee target the Obama administration tried to set for 2017.

Even though the refugee number is low, the U.S. remains a leader in humanitarian protections, with some 350,000 asylum-seekers expected to begin claims next year. Asylum is protection granted to people already in the U.S., while refugees are those requesting protections from outside the country.

There’s already a backlog of nearly 1 million asylum cases pending with Homeland Security and the immigration courts.

A senior administration official said they view asylum and the refugee program in tandem, and as the number of migrants demanding asylum on the southwest border has surged, it’s natural that the government would cut the number of refugees it can handle.

“Given the massive backlog we’ve got in humanitarian protection cases that are already in our country, it makes sense to prioritize that case load before we go abroad looking for new refugees to resettle,” the official told The Washington Times.

As striking as the smaller refugee cap is, officials said the changes to the system are just as important.

Chief among those is an executive order Mr. Trump will soon issue giving states and localities the chance to consent before refugees are sent to their jurisdictions.

It’s an issue a number of regions raised several years back when the Obama administration was inviting refugees from the war-torn terrorism hotbed of Syria.

The administration says refugees, who are entitled to taxpayer programs such as Medicaid, and who often come with children who have special education needs, can tax localities. It makes sense to give them a chance to say whether they can accommodate new arrivals.

“The aim behind this is setting people up for success,” the administration official told The Times. “Some states and localities aren’t ready for this. Others are.”

The administration will also change the way the refugee cap is allocated. In the past, each region of the globe had a limit, which served to spread refugees around different regions.

But Trump officials say those geographic divisions didn’t align with the law, which says the U.S should prioritize important cases.

Instead, they will divide the 18,000 refugees into interest categories, with 5,000 slots designated for religious minorities, 4,000 slots for Iraqis who have assisted the U.S., and 1,500 refugees from Central America’s Northern Triangle region.

Those countries — Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — account for almost all of the border asylum surge, and the administration hopes that carving out a set number of refugee slots will help separate valid claims from the mostly bogus cases coming through the asylum system.

“The idea is if we can find them, we can give them an alternative to having to make the dangerous trip here,” the administration official said.

The new policy will also reduce the role of the U.N., which traditionally has played gatekeeper in vetting and suggesting potential refugees to the U.S.

Officials said the administration will still rely on the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to suggest valid Northern Triangle refugees, and the UNHCR will also be able to flag potential applicants in other categories.

But religious minorities and Iraqis can apply directly to the U.S. under existing laws, undercutting the U.N.’s role in selecting names of potential newcomers.

“Quite frankly we don’t need to ask them for any. We’ve got thousands of people in the processing backlog,” the official said.

EM         -> { Trump for 2020 }

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