RCUSA Urges DHS to Issue Further Guidance on Resumed Resettlement for Refugees from 11-Countries Previously Under Review

Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) Urges the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
to Issue Further Guidance on Resumed Resettlement for Refugees
from 11-Countries Previously Under Review

Washington, DC – More than a week after the expiration of the 90-day ban and review of refugee resettlement from 11 mostly Muslim-majority countries that the Trump Administration announced in an October 24th, 2017 Memorandum, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a press release announcing that arrivals would resume for refugees originating from the 11-countries, but said that nationals from “certain” countries would be subject to “additional screening.”

Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) voices concern that DHS has yet to offer specific details on what additional screening procedures will be implemented, and for which refugee populations.  This lack of transparency leaves room for even greater delays in refugee arrivals, and continues the uncertainty the Trump Administration has created around the status of the refugee resettlement system.

Arrivals from the 11 impacted countries have plummeted since the order’s implementation, as tracked by RCUSA. The United States has resettled only 6,704 refugees so far this fiscal year, far below the more than 15,000 refugees that should have arrived to be on-pace with the Administration’s own refugee admissions ceiling of 45,000-the lowest refugee ceiling in U.S. history.

Contact: Danielle Grigsby, Associate Director, RCUSA, dgrigsby@rcusa.org