Federal policy on Syrian refugees, 2017-2018
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The Syrian Civil War, which began in March 2011, caused millions of Syrians to flee the country and seek refuge in other nations.[1] In 2016, the United States accepted approximately 12,500 refugees from Syria, slightly exceeding the Obama administration's annual goal of resettling 10,000 Syrians.[2]
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on January 27, 2017, suspending the refugee admission program for 120 days, indefinitely halting the admission of refugees from Syria, and calling for a review of the refugee admission process. It also limited the number of refugees to be admitted to the U.S. in 2017 to fewer than 50,000.[3]
This page tracked major events and policy positions of the Trump administration and the 115th United States Congress on Syrian refugees from 2017 and 2018.
September 21, 2017: State Department announces more humanitarian assistance to people of Syria
On September 21, 2017, the State Department announced that the U.S. would send more than $697 million in additional humanitarian assistance to the people of Syria. The U.S. delivered nearly $7.4 billion in humanitarian assistance since 2012. The assistance went to Syrians and countries hosting Syrian refugees. A breakdown of the aid appears below.[4]
September 19, 2017: Trump thanks nations hosting Syrian refugees; offers continued financial assistance
On September 19, 2017, during his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly, President Donald Trump thanked Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon for hosting Syrian refugees and said that the U.S. would continue to offer financial assistance to them. He also discussed migration, saying, “uncontrolled migration is deeply unfair to both the sending and the receiving countries.” His remarks appear below.[5]
| “ | We appreciate the efforts of United Nations agencies that are providing vital humanitarian assistance in areas liberated from ISIS, and we especially thank Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon for their role in hosting refugees from the Syrian conflict. The United States is a compassionate nation and has spent billions and billions of dollars in helping to support this effort. We seek an approach to refugee resettlement that is designed to help these horribly treated people, and which enables their eventual return to their home countries, to be part of the rebuilding process.
For the cost of resettling one refugee in the United States, we can assist more than 10 in their home region. Out of the goodness of our hearts, we offer financial assistance to hosting countries in the region, and we support recent agreements of the G20 nations that will seek to host refugees as close to their home countries as possible. This is the safe, responsible, and humanitarian approach. For decades, the United States has dealt with migration challenges here in the Western Hemisphere. We have learned that, over the long term, uncontrolled migration is deeply unfair to both the sending and the receiving countries. For the sending countries, it reduces domestic pressure to pursue needed political and economic reform, and drains them of the human capital necessary to motivate and implement those reforms. For the receiving countries, the substantial costs of uncontrolled migration are borne overwhelmingly by low-income citizens whose concerns are often ignored by both media and government.[6] |
” |
| —Presdident Donald Trump[5] | ||
March 6, 2017: Executive order temporarily suspending immigration from six countries
President Donald Trump issued a revised immigration executive order on March 6, 2017, to suspend immigration from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days. Iraq, which was included in the original order on January 27, 2017, was removed from the list of covered countries after the Iraqi government instituted new vetting procedures, such as heightened visa screening and data sharing with the U.S. Other differences from the first executive order included specifying that current visa holders were not affected, removing the indefinite suspension on admitting Syrian refugees, and allowing entry for refugees who had already been granted asylum.[7]
On June 26, 2017, the Supreme Court partially lifted the injunction against the order and agreed to review the case. The court allowed the suspension on entry to the United States and on the admission of refugees to be enforced, except for individuals with a bona fide relationship with the United States. This would include, for example, those with a familial relationship to someone in the United States or someone with an offer of employment. The administration set the order to go into partial effect on June 29, 2017, at 8 p.m. Eastern time.[8][9]
The travel restrictions for nationals of seven countries outlined in Section 2 of the executive order expired on September 24, 2017, and was replaced with new travel restrictions. The new restrictions were the result of the national security reviews the secretary of homeland security was directed to undertake by Section 2. The restrictions on refugees outlined in Section 6 of the order expired on October 24, 2017. Due to the expiration of the March 6 order and the issuing of a new executive order, the Supreme Court dismissed both cases against the March 6 order as moot.[10]
January 27, 2017: Executive order on refugee admission and immigration bans
On January 27, 2017, President Donald Trump issued an executive order impacting refugee applicants. The order suspended the refugee admission program for 120 days, indefinitely halted the admission of refugees from Syria, and called for a review of the refugee admission process. It also limited the number of refugees to be admitted to the U.S. in 2017 to fewer than 50,000.[11]
Federal judge James Robart of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on February 3, 2017, suspending enforcement of the executive order nationwide.[12] A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the TRO on February 9, 2017.[13]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Syrian Refugees, "A Snapshot of the Crisis in the Middle East and Europe," accessed December 14, 2016
- ↑ Pew Research Center, "U.S. admits record number of Muslim refugees in 2016," October 5, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedRefugeeBan - ↑ State.gov, "U.S. Humanitarian Assistance in Response to the Syrian Crisis," September 21, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 WhiteHouse.gov, "Remarks by President Trump to the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly," September 19, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Reuters, "Trump signs new travel ban order, Iraq left off: officials," March 6, 2017
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, Trump et al. v. International Refugee Assistance Project et al. and Trump et al. v. State of Hawaii et al., June 26, 2017
- ↑ Vox, "Trump’s travel ban is going into effect tonight. Here’s what we know," June 29, 2017
- ↑ The Associated Press, "The Latest: US to resume refugee admissions," October 24, 2017
- ↑ White House, "Executive Order: Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States," January 27, 2017
- ↑ CNBC, "Homeland Security suspends actions associated with Trump's travel ban; 'standard policy' now in effect," February 4, 2017
- ↑ The New York Times, "Court Refuses to Reinstate Travel Ban, Dealing Trump Another Legal Loss," February 9, 2017
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