Exclusive: Dozens of refugee resettlement offices to close as Trump downsizes program

[babylonsister]

February 14, 2018 / 6:06 AM / Updated 2 hours ago
Exclusive: Dozens of refugee resettlement offices to close as Trump downsizes program
Mica Rosenberg


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Refugee resettlement agencies are preparing to shutter more than 20 offices across the United States and cut back operations in more than 40 others after the State Department told them to pare their operations, according to plans seen by Reuters.

The slated closures, which are being reviewed by the State Department for final approval, follow President Donald Trump’s decision to dramatically reduce the number of refugees that will be allowed into the United States in 2018.

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Refugees can access services from the resettlement centers for up to five years after they first arrive, so the closures could potentially affect thousands of recent arrivals, said Robert Carey, who directed the Office of Refugee Resettlement under President Barack Obama.

“The population doesn’t go away when you turn off the spigot,” Carey said. “If the intent is really to have people integrate into society then doing this is counter to that intent.”

The Trump administration has said it wants refugees to assimilate quickly, both to promote national security and so that they can become self-sufficient.

“We’ve never seen a cut of this size and also a cut of this impact,” said Hans Van de Weerd an executive at the International Rescue Committee, one of the nine resettlement agencies.

While the size of the U.S. refugee program has fluctuated over the years, it has never seen an across-the-board cut to dozens of offices in such a short period of time, he said.

Van de Weerd said the cuts could make it difficult for the United States to ramp up refugee numbers in the future. “It took years to build up this capacity,” he said. “Once you break it down it’s not easy to build it up again.”

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-refugees-exclusive/exclusive-dozens-of-refugee-resettlement-offices-to-close-as-trump-downsizes-program-idUSKCN1FY1EJ

[Blue_Adept]

1. Modern conservatives at their finest

Doing everything the opposite of what actually helps and works.