Wasting no time in its bombastic, xenophobic war on immigration, the Trump administration unilaterally canceled flight plans for refugees already approved under the Biden Administration to travel to America.
From Associated Press:
Thousands of refugees who fled war and persecution and had gone through a sometimes yearslong vetting process to start new lives in America are now stranded at various locations worldwide. That includes more than 1,600 Afghans who assisted America’s war effort, as well as relatives of active-duty U.S. military personnel.
As AP noted, refugees are distinctly different from asylum-seekers entering America over the border: “Refugees must be living outside of the U.S. to be considered for resettlement and are usually referred to the State Department by the United Nations.”
AUTHOR FOOTNOTE
The AP story is problematic for a number of reasons, primarily for repeating Donald’s false claims about U.S. communities being “taxed” by “record levels of migration” and not immediately debunking that in the story. Even though migrants and refugees are, in fact, different, Associated Press still has an obligation to knock down the nonsense. (Immigration dropped to a 5-year low earlier in January.)
In other words, Donald’s folks made a sweeping (and false) generalization about immigration when the issue here, specifically, is refugees.
The piece also doesn’t mention how Trump was uniquely responsible for the catastrophe in withdrawing from Afghanistan, implemented with urgency by President Biden, and how this order is a sad callback to Trump’s abject failure. Among the folks in limbo now are thousands of Afghans who assisted the United States, so in addition to screwing up withdrawal—he’s making sure to do it on the backend as well.
Why would anyone in their right minds help us again when we’ve proven, via fiat (executive order) and not lawmaking, that we are completely unworthy of trust?
Finally, I find it fascinating how media’s completely forgotten Donald’s holy fatwa on President Obama’s executive orders and now he’s been given a(nother) total free pass in 2025.
