Rumors the US will stop admitting any refugees

North Korean Joseph Kim lost his father to starvation, his mother to prison, and his sister was sold off. He was homeless and starving by age 12 and dreamed of “living a day with three meals.”

Kim managed to escape North Korea and made it to the U.S. as a refugee.

Recently, reports have emerged that the Trump administration is considering lowering the number of refugees admitted to the U.S. to zero.

“Living up to our moral responsibilities and principles is how we sustain and preserve our humanity. And improving the quality of other people’s lives, including those of refugees, helps our own lives,” Kim wrote in a recent essay in the Catalyst.

Many faith groups have pointed out that the rumored cut would effectively eliminate the country’s refugee resettlement program altogether, according to Politico.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement site still states, “U.S. policy allows refugees of special humanitarian concern entrance into our country, reflecting our core values and our tradition of being a safe haven for the oppressed.” But the latest rumors from within the Trump administration have thrown this core value into question, especially for the religious groups that have traditionally worked as partners with the federal government to serve refugees once they arrive in the United States.

Last year, the U.S. officially accepted the lowest number of refugees since 1980,  when their refugee admissions program was established. Only a couple years back (2017), a ceiling of 110,000 was set by former President Barack Obama before Donald Trump took office.

[Deseret News]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid and Relief, North Korean refugee, Uncategorized by Grant Montgomery.