Pascrell Leads House Colleagues Calling for Action on Refugees

Members assail cruelty of lowest resettlement rates in modern times

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) led 57 of his colleagues in the House of Representatives writing to Donald Trump blasting Trump’s decision to set American refugee admissions for Fiscal Year 2020 at just 18,000, a further drop from the already-historically low figure set by the administration last year. The members demand the administration show greater charity to refugees fleeing war and famine and raise the number to 110,000.

“We write to encourage you to set the Presidential Determination (PD) for Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2020 at 110,000. Your decision to set the cap at 18,000 is unconscionable in a world where nearly one person is forcibly uprooted every two seconds,” the Members write. “Our responsibility to help more of these victims is imperative. Throughout our history, the United States has been a beacon of hope and sanctuary for refugees fleeing for their lives.”

For several years now, the world has remained mired in what is the largest refugee crisis in recorded history. Over 70 million people spanning the earth have been displaced for terrible causes ranging from violence and famine to persecution and war. Over 25 million refugees are included in that dreadful toll, including over half of whom are under the age of 18.

The United States screens refugees more stringently than any other traveler allowed to enter the country. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has safely and successfully resettled more than three million refugees from around the world to American communities across the country since 1975. Refugee applicants must undergo a robust and thorough screening process that takes roughly two years and involves our nation’s top security and counterterror experts. The exhaustive vetting process includes checking fingerprints and other biometric data against terrorist and criminal databases and multiple interviews through various Federal agencies.

Since the enactment of the 1980 Refugee Act, the average annual goal for refugee admissions has been 95,000. In Fiscal Year 2016, the U.S. resettled approximately 85,000 refugees, and the Presidential Determination for Fiscal Year 2017 was 110,000. Since Executive Order 13769 was signed, the number of refugees coming to the United States each month has dropped precipitously. The Trump administration’s prior PD of 30,000 for Fiscal Year 2019 was already the lowest number ever set by a U.S. executive, and the number for FY 2020 cuts that pathetic figure in half.

“Your decision to set this PD at 18,000 runs counter to these intonations and fulfill your predecessor’s worst fears about our national future. We reiterate our call for you to increase the Presidential Determination for Refugee Admissions to 110,000. Our future depends on that charity and far-sightedness,” the Members conclude.

The letter is signed by Reps. Pascrell, Don Beyer (D-VA-08), David Cicilline (D-RI-01), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), Juan Vargas (D-CA-51), Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), Steve Cohen (D-TN-09), Tom Suozzi (D-NY-03), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-03), Mark Pocan (D-WI-02), Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), Derek Kilmer (D-WA-06), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-06), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18), Jared Huffman (D-CA-02), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA-47), André Carson (D-IN-07), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY-13), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-03), Gwen Moore (D-WI-04), Darren Soto (D-FL-09), Hank Johnson (D-GA-04), Joseph Kennedy (D-MA-04), Bobby Rush (D-IL-01), James McGovern (D-MA-02), Peter Visclosky (D-IN-01), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-CA-44), Gerald Connolly (D-VA-11), Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), Alcee Hastings (D-FL-20), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07), Tony Cárdenas (D-CA-29), David Price (D-NC-04), Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12), James Himes (D-CT-04), Gregory Meeks (D-NY-05), Linda Sánchez (D-CA-38), Ted Deutch (D-FL-22), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12), Peter Welch (D-VT-AL), Dina Titus (D-NV-01), Dan Kildee (D-MI-05), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX-30), Bill Foster (D-IL-11), Chellie Pingree (D-ME-01), William Keating (D-MA-09), Eliot Engel (D-NY-16), Joe Courtney (D-CT-02), Adam Smith (D-WA-09), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), Grace Meng (D-NY-06), Brian Higgins (D-NY-26), Nita M. Lowey (D-NY-17), and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-01).

For years, Rep. Pascrell has been one of the House of Representative’s foremost leaders in calling for American leadership in the refugee crisis and in his criticism of the nation’s slow acceptance of refugees. In May 2018, Pascrell helmed a letter condemning the pitiful refugee resettlement rate set by Trump for FY 2019. In October 2017, Pascrell led 120 of his colleagues in a letter to Trump assailing his decision to set a painfully low cap for refugee admissions for 2018, and rejecting reported changes to the resettlement process to require refugees to meet an assimilation standard. In September 2017, Pascrell condemned the Trump administration’s slashing of America’s acceptance rate of refugees, saying the decision “shows no compassion, no sense of history, and no moral courage.” Leading 109 House members in May 2017, Pascrell wrote to Trump demanding that he rescind his Executive Order suspending the Refugee Admissions Program and increase support for humanitarian aid programs that assist Syrians in crisis. Pascrell attacked Donald Trump’s refugee restrictions announced at the start of his term as “religious discrimination” that turned “a blind eye to the families seeking escape from war and devastation in search of a better life.”

A copy of the letter is available here, the text of which appears below.

October 23, 2019

Donald J. Trump

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC

Dear Mr. Trump:

We write to encourage you to set the Presidential Determination (PD) for Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2020 at 110,000. Your decision to set the cap at 18,000 is unconscionable in a world where nearly one person is forcibly uprooted every two seconds.

For several years now, the world has remained mired in what is the largest refugee crisis in recorded history. Over 70 million people spanning the earth have been displaced for terrible causes ranging from violence and famine to persecution and war. Over 25 million refugees are included in that dreadful toll, including over half of whom are under the age of 18. Our responsibility to help more of these victims is imperative. Throughout our history, the United States has been a beacon of hope and sanctuary for refugees fleeing for their lives. And, importantly, these refugees are already the most thoroughly vetted people who enter our borders, ensuring that they pose no national security threat to our communities.

Indeed, as both Republican and Democratic administrations have confirmed, the United States screens refugees more stringently than any other traveler allowed to enter the United States. The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has safely and successfully resettled more than three million refugees from around the world to American communities across the country since 1975. Refugee applicants must undergo a robust and thorough screening process that takes roughly two years and involves our nation’s top security and counterterror experts. The exhaustive vetting process includes checking fingerprints and other biometric data against terrorist and criminal databases and multiple interviews through various Federal agencies.

Since the enactment of the 1980 Refugee Act, the average annual goal for refugee admissions has been 95,000. In Fiscal Year 2016, the U.S. resettled approximately 85,000 refugees, and the Presidential Determination for Fiscal Year 2017 was 110,000. During the worst refugee crisis in the world, these resettlement numbers pale in comparison to the support our allies are providing and that our moral leadership commands. Since Executive Order 13769 was signed, the number of refugees coming to the United States each month has dropped precipitously. Australia, Norway, Canada, Sweden, and Finland all accept more refugees per capita than the United States. Failing to do our part to alleviate this global crisis undermines our leadership, diplomacy, and national security.

Your administration’s prior PD of 30,000 for Fiscal Year 2019 was already the lowest number ever set by a U.S. executive. It was a dereliction that was rightly scorned in Congress and across the world. The lowering the number to 18,000 is an unprecedented embarrassment. It is a complete, perhaps final dereliction of our generations of American international stewardship.

In his final official speech as President, Ronald Reagan spoke about immigration and the future of America. He observed that America’s welcoming of people from all over the world “continuously renew and enrich our nation.” In profound words, he said that “[t]hanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting, always leading the world to the next frontier.” Reagan warned that if America ever closed its “golden door” to “new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

Your decision to set this PD at 18,000 runs counter to these intonations and fulfill your predecessor’s worst fears about our national future. We reiterate our call for you to increase the Presidential Determination for Refugee Admissions to 110,000. Our future depends on that charity and far-sightedness.

Sincerely,