US to slash refugee admissions to historic low of 30,000

The administration of US President Donald Trump has announced a lower refugee cap, evoking huge outcry from human rights defenders.

US  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday that he would limit the number of refugees admitted into the United States in the next fiscal year to 30,000.

The 30,000 limit set for 2019 is the lowest number in more than 38 years. For 2018, the administration of President Donald Trump had agreed on the 45,000 refugee limit. Before Trump, in 2016, the number of refugees admitted into the US had been 84,995.

The lower cap has prompted human rights defenders worldwide to criticize the Trump administration's unfair stance.

Rights advocates say not only is US foreign policy in countries aggravating the global refugee crisis, but also the strict US domestic policy against refugees is scaling back its protection for the world's most vulnerable people, making the hapless refugees suffer.

Eric Schwartz, president of the independent organization Refugees International, described the Trump administration's announcement for 2019 as "appalling".

“US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement of a refugee ceiling of 30,000 is appalling, and it continues this administration’s rapid flight from the proud US tradition of providing resettlement to those fleeing persecution around the world. It is unacceptable that the United States is asking governments like Turkey, Jordan, and Uganda, among many others, to provide safety for literally millions of refugees, while the administration, in turn, announces the lowest refugee ceiling in US history."

Stephen Miles, Director of  Win Without War said in a statement that the Trump administration's new cap was “unconscionable”.

"At a time when the world is facing the largest displacement crisis in recorded history, it is unconscionable that the Trump administration would further dismantle the US Refugee Admissions Program by setting a cap of 30,000 refugee admissions for fiscal year 2019—the lowest resettlement cap in the program's history," Miles said in a statement slamming the White House's decision.

"What's more the US has a direct moral responsibility to open its doors, not slam them shut, given that our own nation is an active combatant in many of the very conflicts and humanitarian crises driving the global refugee crisis."

Ryan Mace from Amnesty International USA said in a statement that the Trump administration was “creating road block after road block for refugees to arrive,” adding, “this must be perceived as an all-out attack against our country's ability to resettle refugees both now and in the future."

Senator Patty Murray said the 30,000 refugees in FY19, which is down from 45,000 cap this year and less than a third of Obama-era levels, is both "shameful" and "wrong".

The Trump administration has been facing widespread condemnation over its "devastating" anti-immigration measures .

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The anti-immigration measures of the Trump administration include also a travel ban targeting Muslim-majority nations.

The travel ban targets citizens of mostly Muslim countries, including Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad as well as North Korea. Some groups of people from Venezuela area also included in the law.

Experts have challenged the legality of Trump’s anti-refugee measures based on international law, UN conventions and universally-accepted declarations.

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