Monday, January 1, 2018

2017 Refugee Resettlement Watch Year in Review - Trump has been huge improvement - Remember: unless laws are passed next Prez can use phone & pen to undo Trump





Ann Corcoran

Happy New Year to all of my faithful readers (and new ones too)!

RRW celebrated its 10th anniversary this past summer and I can say, without a doubt, that this has been the most monumental year for the refugee industry for the decade I’ve been observing it.  And, of course, that is because Donald J. Trump resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Trump in oval office 2
We will be watching in the year ahead!
The Trump Administration has been busy making changes to the UN/US Refugee Admissions Program with a very definite America First! orientation and we expect that to continue in the year that began 8 hours ago.

There is much the President can do administratively to begin the process of reforming how we deal with the UN and how refugees are admitted to the US. But….
Just as President Trump is undoing many policies Obama put in place with his phone and his pen, a new President in 3 (or 7) years can undo Trump’s administrative changes, so I will continue to argue that in order to bring about real change in what is an extremely flawed system of admitting third worlders (they aren’t all legitimate refugees) permanently to the US, Congress will have to make changes in the law!
Will they have the guts in 2018 to tackle the USRAP? My guess is no (remember the Republican leadership is driven by the Chamber and its ilk and wants the compliant low wage workers for its donor corporations) unless you continue to demand that they do (and the President pushes it!). ...