Colorado Dems ask Trump administration to rethink refugee cap
Colorado Democrats are calling on the Trump administration to rescind its decision to limit how many refugees can enter the country.
A State Department proposal released Thursday would cap the number of refugees at 18,000 for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. That would be the lowest number since the resettlement program was created in 1980.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter, Jason Crow and Joe Neguse, all Democrats, co-wrote a letter asking for the decision to be reversed.
“Each day, an estimated 44,000 people are forcibly displaced from their homes due to violence, persecution or war. More than half of those individuals are children,” they wrote. “The U.S. has a long history of resettling refugees who have fled persecution due to their religion, race, nationality, political opinion or social group.”
The letter said 30,000 refugees have landed in Colorado since 2000, which has benefited the state economically.
Between 2007 and 2017, they wrote, refugee economic input created more than $611 million in income for Colorado, generating 13,200 jobs, the letter said.
“Refugee workers fill critical gaps left by labor shortages in key industries in Colorado including manufacturing, hospitality and food preparation,” the letter says. “Reducing or eliminating refugee resettlements will adversely affect important industries in our state, hinder economic growth and drive up consumer costs.”
Trump promised to limit illegal immigration in his 2016 campaign and has been a critic of U.S. asylum policies. In 2015, he took on the Obama administration’s agreement to accept refugees from war-torn Syria.
“Refugees from Syria are now pouring into our great country,” Trump said on Twitter at the time. “Who knows who they are — some could be IS. Is our president insane?”
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) In this June 20, 2017 file photo, Refugees and community activists gather in front of the White House in Washington. The Trump administration wants to cap the number of refugees admitted into the United States to the lowest number since the resettlement program was created in 1980. A State Department proposal released Thursday would put a cap on the number of refugees at 18,000 for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.