Until Then, Trump’s Xenophobic Restrictions Remain in Place
Washington, DC – After years running from danger, waiting in refugee camps, and clearing numerous paperwork processes and security checks, some refugees were promised a new life in the United States. Refugee resettlement agencies and local communities prepared to welcome and help them get acclimated to their new homes. President Biden announced his intention to increase the number of refugees whom the United States would welcome dramatically, in stark contrast to Trump’s anti-refugee policy.
So why have over 715 refugees’ flights been canceled? Why do they remain in life-threatening situations they had planned to finally leave, still separated from family members and communities in the United States?
More than 600 religious leaders and faith-based organizations across traditions are asking this question of President Biden and his administration. In a letter, released today, they write that they are “deeply concerned” that the promised increase in refugee numbers, coming in the form of a revised Presidential Determination for Fiscal Year 2021, still has not been signed.
“We urge you to immediately sign a new, revised FY21 Presidential Determination and restore regional allocations based on vulnerability and need,” they write. Previously, forty-two heads of communion and other high-level faith leaders issued a similar letter.
Elissa Diaz, Policy and Advocacy Manager at Church World Service and Co-Chair of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, said:
People are literally waiting, with their bags packed, to start new lives. After years of displacement, they are so close to beginning a new chapter and settling into a permanent home. Our resettlement partners across the United States have also been waiting for this moment for years, and their communities are ready to welcome refugees with open arms. The Biden administration has said the right things on refugee admissions, but hasn’t put those words into action. We don’t understand and cannot accept this delay. The revised Presidential Determination for FY 2021 must be signed ASAP.
In the Washington Post, Catherine Rampell points out: “Until this document, the ‘presidential determination on refugee admissions,’ is signed, Trump’s draconian restrictions remain in place. Biden’s own State Department apparently expected this simple bureaucratic task to be completed weeks ago…. As it happens, foot-dragging in issuing a ‘presidential determination’ is the same stunt that Trump pulled in 2019 and 2020, when he also wanted to wriggle out of a public commitment on immigration.”
Mark Hetfield, CEO and President of HIAS, one of the U.S. refugee resettlement agencies, writes:
By expressing a commitment to refugee resettlement and then doing nothing, the Biden administration has raised the expectations of refugees who now must linger in dangerous places even after having been vetted and approved by the Department of Homeland Security. Sadly, this administration has made a bad situation even worse, further undermining America’s credibility with the most vulnerable refugees, the countries that host them, and the organizations that help them.
Added Rev. Noel Andersen, Director of Grassroots Organizing for Church World Service:
People of faith from many traditions are lamenting the reality that over 700 flights and travel plans were canceled, as people who already faced persecution wait longer in refugee camps. They are wondering why the Biden administration is breaking its promise to rebuild the refugee program, and the President has offered no response. If we are to live out our values as a democracy, we have a moral responsibility to be a beacon of hope for refugees fleeing injustice. The time is overdue for President Biden to fulfill his promise.
The only way forward is for President Biden to sign the revised Presidential Determination, as these hundreds of religious leaders and organizations request. Read the full letter here.
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
###