Perhaps we should be grateful that, having thrown away age-old ideals that this country is the protector of the persecuted, defender of the oppressed, champion of the despised, the nativists in the Trump administration set the ceiling for refugee admissions at 30,000, and not zero, for fiscal year 2019.
The cap for FY 2018, of 45,000, was already the lowest since the program began in 1980; the actual total admitted was less than 34,000. The prior year, responding to roiling wars and turmoil worldwide, President Obama set the max at 110,000, and almost 97,000 gained entry.
To President Trump and advisers like Stephen Miller, strangers are threats; admitting them is weakness.
Don’t tell them about the legacy of Albert Einstein, Sergey Brin, Madeleine Albright and Hannah Arendt. Just pull up the ramp — even in the midst of crises that are forcing record numbers of people to flee their homes and countries, including Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia.
The administration says there is no limit on asylum for people who can show that they are likely to be targeted back home. But asylum cases are only for those who have made it to our shores. Refugee status is the true lifeline.
One being yanked back before our eyes.
— New York Daily News