On September 13, 2018, refugees and former refugees from 31 states and Washington DC sent a letter to President Trump urging him to increase the refugee admissions cap to at least 75,000 in Fiscal Year 2019. Signatories were business owners, community leaders, faith leaders and elected officials, including Virginia Delegate Kathy Tran and Helena Montana Mayor Wilmot Collins.
Click Here to Listen to the We Are All America “Refugees Speak Out” National Press Call
September 13, 2018
President Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As former refugees, we are writing to respectfully urge you to resettle at least 75,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2019.
The United States is a generous country with a proud history of providing refuge to those fleeing violence and persecution. We have been personal beneficiaries of this generosity and give back daily to the country that welcomed us. For this reason, we must speak out strongly against reports that the administration may set a refugee admissions goal at 25,000 or even less.
We write to you today not only as people who were once forced to flee our countries of origin, but also as proud Americans. Former refugees are this nation’s business owners, workers, faith leaders, elected officials and valued members of our local communities.
The U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program has successfully resettled more than 3 million refugees since 1975. According to a newly released report—A Return to First Principles: How Refugees Help to Define, Strengthen, and Revitalize the United States—refugees successfully integrate by virtually every metric, and they contribute significantly to local communities and to the nation’s economy. As a pillar of U.S. foreign policy, our nation’s resettlement program represents a standard of excellence that other countries look to as a touchstone for their own policies.
Despite the success of the resettlement program, last year the United States set its lowest ever resettlement goal, just 45,000 refugees, and we are on pace to receive less than half that number. Record-low refugee arrivals this year have prolonged family separation, and we are deeply concerned about the impact that further dismantling refugee resettlement will have on American communities and families. At a time when there are more than 25.4 million refugees worldwide and major refugee crises in countries including Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Venezuela, and Burma, our commitment to refugee resettlement must increase, not decrease.
We encourage you to continue to uphold the values inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty and return refugee resettlement to its honored place in our nation’s history. Thank you for listening to the voices of former refugees as you determine the number of people our country will help in the coming year.
Sincerely,
