by Eric Lendrum
President Trump has again lowered the maximum amount of refugees allowed into the United States, bringing it to yet another record low, according to The Hill.
The Trump Administration is set to move forward with lowering the refugee cap to just 18,000 for the 2020 fiscal year, the lowest since the refugee program was first started in 1980.
He had previously lowered it to 45,000 in his first year in office, then down further to 30,000 last year, both of which were also record lows. By contrast, Barack Obama had set the refugee cap at 116,000 in 2016.
In a statement from the State Department, spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said that “the core of the Trump Administration’s foreign policy is a commitment to make decisions based on reality, not wishes, and to drive optimal outcomes based on concrete facts.” Ortagus’s statement also added that “the current burdens on the U.S. immigration system must be alleviated before it is again possible to resettle large numbers of refugees.”
The move is the latest example of President Trump’s hardline stance on immigration, which is widely popular with the American electorate and was considered the central issue of his 2016 campaign. Other measures he has taken include building a new wall along the southern border, and ending amnesty programs such as DAPA and DACA.
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Eric Lendrum graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was the Secretary of the College Republicans and the founding chairman of the school’s Young Americans for Freedom chapter. He has interned for Young America’s Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, and the White House, and has worked for numerous campaigns including the 2018 re-election of Congressman Devin Nunes (CA-22).
Photo “Citizenship Paperwork” by Grand Canyon National Park. CC BY 2.0.
