On Friday, President Trump delivered on one of his most controversial campaign promises, signing an executive order to bar refugees from entering the United States for four months and all Syrian refugees indefinitely.
The order also puts a 90-day hold on visitors entering from seven Muslim-majority countries \u2013 Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. The president said that these measures are necessary to \u201ckeep radical Islamic terrorists out.\u201d But this paints a very different image from the refugees who are actually admitted into the U. S.
President Trump Friday signed a controversial executive order to suspend all refugees from entering the U. S. while the administration tightens th…
\u201cHalf of the refugees who are arriving in the U. S. are under the age of 14, so a lot of them are kids. Many of them are coming from war-torn areas,\u201d David Miliband, a former secretary of the United Kingdom, told \u201cCBS This Morning: Saturday.\u201d \u201cWe work in Syria, in Somalia\u2026 in Afghanistan, where many people are local and are supporting American troops and have been and have a right to come to the U. S. We work abroad with those people, but we also work in 29 U. S. cities where the U. S. honors its historic commitment to be a haven for people fleeing persecution.\u201d
Miliband is the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an organization devoted to helping refugees. In an op-ed in the New York Times, Miliband chastised the president\u2019s \u201cun-American refugee policy.\u201d But he\u2019s also using this time as an opportunity to clear up common misconceptions surrounding the refugee admissions process.
Mr. Trump said the government would still review applications from people fleeing religious persecution and that Christians would be given priority for refugee status According to Miliband, the U. S. has already admitted refugees at a \u201cmore or less, one-to-one\u201d ratio based on religion.
Washington Post national correspondent Philip Bump joins \u00ab\u00a0CBS This Morning: Saturday\u00a0\u00bb to discuss whether President Trump’s executive orders are e…
\u201cAbout half \u2013 45 percent are Christians, 45 are Muslims in real figures,\u201d Miliband said. \u201cIf I\u2019m being persecuted for political reasons \u2013 if I\u2019m a dissonant \u2013 why should I get less preferential treatment than if I\u2019m a religious minority? Actually, almost of the Iranians we resettle here are Christians.\u201d
Mr. Trump has also called his administration to come up with an immigrant screening process of \u201cextreme vetting\u201d that would require every applicant to prove he or she will be a \u201ca positively contributing member of society.\u201d But the U. S. already has in place a rigiorous vetting process that could take up to 36 months, Miliband said.
\u201cThe average is around 18 months. They have to prove to 12 to 15 different government agencies, including the CIA, that they are who they say they are, that they are going to be safe and that they\u2019re going to be productive residents and citizens of this country. It\u2019s a tough process, including biometric testing,\u201d Miliband said. \u201cIt\u2019s tougher to get to the U. S. as a refugee than any other route, be it a visa for a student or tourist or anything else.\u201d
The order would also slash the United States\u2019 refugee quota from the 110,000 originally planned for the 2017 fiscal year to a maximum of 50,000. This leaves 60,000 refugees \u2013 many whom have already been vetted — in limbo.
\u201cSome of them are literally waiting to get on planes. They\u2019ve been through the vetting process and they\u2019re waiting to be told which part of the U. S. you are going to be left in,\u201d Miliband said. \u201cAnd one of the saddest things about this situation is obviously the immediate situation of the people who are stuck in refugee camps or stuck in terrible urban conditions around the world.\u201d
The president\u2019s orders went into effect immediately. On Friday evening, two Iraqi men were detained at New York\u2019s John F. Kennedy International Airport. According to the American Civil Liberties Union , the men were \u201cthreatened with deportation even though they had valid visas to enter the United States.\u201d Their lawyers have now filed a lawsuit against the president. One of the detainees was later released.
In Cairo, six U. S.-bound migrants — five from Iraq and one from Yemen — were also prevented from boarding an EgyptAir fight to JFK Saturday.
In addition to these immediate effects, Miliband is concerned that the executive order will send a dangerous message to the world.
\u201cAmerica\u2019s historically been a leader of the humanitarian system, both in terms of its welcome of refugees and sometimes in terms of its overseas aids,\u201d Miliband said.
Miliband also worries this will be a \u201cpropaganda gift\u201d to those who want to do harm to the U. S.
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that ISIS wants more than to be able to say to Muslims around the world, \u2018Look, we\u2019re the people who protect you. America will never give you a haven.\u2019 And that in the long-term is one of the most dangerous things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\nSimilarity rank: 18\n<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: -0.9<\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n