Title: Trump’s New Ban Leaves Few Spots for Refugees, Even the Hunted - The New York Times
Headings: Trump’s New Ban Leaves Few Spots for Refugees, Even the Hunted
Trump’s New Ban Leaves Few Spots for Refugees, Even the Hunted
Content: More than 37,000 refugees from around the world have been admitted to the United States since the fiscal year began in October. By Monday morning, with seven months to go in the fiscal year, fewer than 12,700 slots remained under Mr. Trump’s limit. In a statement on Monday, John F. Kelly, the homeland security secretary, said the new executive order would “make America safer, and address long-overdue concerns about the security of our immigration system.” “We must undertake a rigorous review of our visa and refugee vetting programs to increase our confidence in the entry decisions we make for visitors and immigrants to the United States,” he said. “ We cannot risk the prospect of malevolent actors using our immigration system to take American lives.” Altogether, the United Nations referred more than 100,000 refugees from around the globe last year for resettlement in the United States. The Obama administration accepted nearly 85,000 of them in the 2016 fiscal year, before raising the ceiling considerably for 2017. Now Mr. Trump’s order will effectively leave tens of thousands of families in limbo, all vying for the sliver of seats still available. Veronica and her sister — whose last names are being withheld to protect their identities — have been waiting to find out whether they will be among the chosen. They and their father have been interviewed a total of four times, but months have passed.