<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=" asset-masthead" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 40px; position: relative; font-family: 'Droid Sans', Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><header class="asset-header" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 20px; margin-right: 100px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><ul class="list-inline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; list-style: none; margin-left: -5px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px;" class=""><span itemprop="author" class="tnt-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box;">US puts up ‘unwelcome’ sign for refugees…</span></li></ul><ul class="list-inline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; list-style: none; margin-left: -5px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px;" class=""><span itemprop="author" class="tnt-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">Scott Martelle</span></li> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; padding-right: 5px; padding-left: 5px;" class=""><time datetime="2019-11-06T09:20:00-06:00" class="asset-date tnt-date text-muted" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(119, 119, 119);">Nov 6, 2019</time></li> </ul></span></div></header></div><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: -15px; margin-left: -15px; font-family: 'Droid Sans', Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="main-content col-lg-8 col-md-7" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; min-height: 1px; padding-right: 15px; padding-left: 15px; float: left; width: 780px; border-right: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);"><div class="main-content-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="tncms-region-article_top" class="tncms-region hidden-print" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="tncms-block-724586" class="tncms-block visible-sm visible-md visible-lg" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><section id="block-724586" class=" emphasis-h3 block" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 40px;"><div id="html-asset-724586" style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><div class="html-content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="sr-only" style="text-align: initial; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); cursor: pointer; white-space: nowrap; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: inline !important; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); height: 1px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; width: 1px;"><a class=" save-list-c2ca5d18-ffdf-11e9-9c92-1b1371645ff2-btn save-asset" title="Save to list" href="https://www.postbulletin.com/content/tncms/live/#" role="button" rel="nofollow" data-asset-uuid="c2ca5d18-ffdf-11e9-9c92-1b1371645ff2" data-tncms-track-dmp="is_saved_items_user" style="text-align: initial; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); cursor: pointer; white-space: nowrap; margin-left: 1px; padding: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; display: inline !important;">Sav</a><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px;" class="">Well, it looks like Stephen Miller -- President Trump's dark angel on immigration -- may have achieved one of his wishes. Last month the United States admitted zero refugees for resettlement</span><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px;" class="">Zero.</span></span></div></div></section></div></div><div id="asset-content" data-asset-uuid="c2ca5d18-ffdf-11e9-9c92-1b1371645ff2" style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: -15px; margin-left: -15px;"><div class="col-lg-12 col-md-12 col-sm-12" data-subscription-required-class="col-xs-12" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; min-height: 1px; padding-right: 15px; padding-left: 15px; float: left; width: 779px;"><div class="asset-body" data-subscription-required-class="asset-body" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div itemprop="articleBody" class="asset-content subscriber-premium" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">Zero.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">According to the advocacy group World Relief, October was the first month since it began keeping records 30 years ago that the U.S. government failed to allow a single refugee to resettle here, a stunning reversal of the nation's longstanding role as the leading resettlement destination for people around the world with, in effect, no home to return to.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">The U.S. unseated itself as the top destination for refugees in the first year of the Trump administration; before then, the nation routinely resettled more refugees each year than the rest of the world combined.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">Resettled refugees differ from those living in camps or sheltering in cities until conditions settle sufficiently in their home countries for them to return. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are more than 70 million displaced people around the world right now, more than even at the end of World War II.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">Part of the slash in admissions in October was bureaucratic. Hundreds of refugees cleared for arrival suddenly were forced to wait, their flights canceled, apparently because Trump delayed signing the order capping refugee admissions for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 to 18,000 people -- the lowest level since the Refugee Act of 1980 created the modern resettlement system.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">Without the signed paperwork, the State Department declared a moratorium on new admissions, which it wound up extending twice. Trump signed the order Friday, and the State Department says refugee arrivals were expected to resume Tuesday.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">The fine details of bureaucratic delay are secondary to the bigger policy issue: The Trump administration has actively sought to throttle back immigration to the U.S., including desperate refugees (many of whom are seeking to reunite with families already here) and would-be lawful immigrants who can't prove they can afford to pay for health care when they arrive (a federal judge on Saturday issued a nationwide restraining order against that rule, which was to have gone into effect Sunday).</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">Much of the president's rancor toward immigrants seems rooted in racism. He famously decried immigrants from what he called execrable countries (he used a different phrase) in Africa and South America while saying he preferred people from Norway. It doesn't take much effort to interpret that.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">Reducing the inflow of refugees to a trickle offends on a different level. It contradicts the fundamental American story, that we are a nation of immigrants and their descendants, many of whom arrived here in flight from violence and deprivation (and yes, many in chains and against their will) in hopes of building a new life.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">An unintended consequence -- or maybe it was intended -- of the precipitous drop in refugee arrivals is that the nine nonprofit agencies most responsible for resettling new arrivals have seen their budgets collapse, leading to layoffs, closed offices and canceled services.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">That, of course, will make it harder to restore refugee resettlements in the future since the programmatic infrastructure itself would need to be revived too.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px;" class="">If you hear an evil cackle from the East, it's probably emanating from Miller's office.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>