The International Institute of St. Louis (IISTL) opposes the Trump administration's proposal to virtually shut down refugee resettlement in the U.S., by setting a limit of zero refugees for 2020. If this materializes, it would seriously compromise the fundamental values on which this country was built.
Although no action has been taken, given the administration's track record of reducing the annual resettlement cap from 95,000 in 2017 to 45,000 in 2018 and then to 30,000 in 2019, we believe this is a grave matter.
This cut in resettlement numbers puts the lives of thousands of vulnerable people around the world at risk, including religious and ethnic minorities, Afghan and Iraqi allies, and victims of torture and gender-based violence. If the administration moves forward with these plans, thousands of vetted refugees, many of whom have been waiting for more than 17 years in refugee camps and are ready to begin their new lives in the U.S., will be effectively abandoned.
White House officials are attempting to justify this unprecedented change by suggesting that current refugee resettlement resources be allocated to the Department of Homeland Security to process asylum seekers at the southern U.S. border. However, the administration's moves to bar asylum-seeker access clearly invalidates this argument.
Refugees make an enormous net contribution to the U.S. economy with a fiscal impact over a 10-year period of $63 billion. In Missouri:
- 14,101 immigrants are self-employed
- 58,916 Missourians are employed at immigrant-owned firms
- Immigrants contribute $518 million in state and local taxes
Send a strong message by letter, email, or phone to the White House and to your senators and representatives. Raise your voice
for the voiceless
and
advocate for the preservation of the U.S.'s time-tested humanitarian refugee resettlement program.
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