The U.S. Has Accepted Only 11 Syrian Refugees This Year
I suspect Gen Mattis will not be around long since he supports the Syrian refugee settlement into the US! Bolton will see to that.
The U.S. Has Accepted Only 11 Syrian Refugees This Year
https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/12/602022877/the-u-s-has-welcomed-only-11-syrian-refugees-this-year
April 12, 201811:49 PM ET
Deborah Amos
The Trump administration has condemned a suspected chemical weapons strike in Syria and is considering military action. "We are very concerned, when a thing like that can happen, this is about humanity," President Trump said earlier this week.
But humanitarian organizations are challenging the president's commitment to humanity when it comes to Syrian civilians — particularly those seeking refuge in the United States.
In 2016, near the end of Barack Obama's presidency, the U.S. resettled 15,479 Syrian refugees, according to State Department figures. In 2017, the country let in 3,024. So far this year, that number is just 11. By comparison, over the same 3 1/2-month period in 2016, the U.S. accepted 790.
"We are seeing the impact of the Trump administration's words and policy and actions," says Noah Gottschalk, senior policy adviser at Oxfam America. "That slams the door on refugees, and Syrian refugees in particular.".
Gottschalk says that refugee resettlement has slowed to a trickle, with only 44 Syrians admitted since October 2017. He charges that administration policies aim to dismantle a refugee program mandated by Congress.
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Yet some officials, including the Trump administration's defense secretary, have spoken out about Syrian refugees.
"I've seen refugees from Asia to Europe, Kosovo to Africa. I've never seen refugees as traumatized as coming out of Syria. It's got to end," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday.........................
Displaced Syrians, who fled their homes in the city of Deir ez-Zor, carry boxes of United Nations aid at a camp in Syria's northeastern Hassakeh province in February.
Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images
