U.S. media outlet Breitbart News reported on Feb. 6 that Biden signed an executive order on Thursday (Feb. 4) that will soon strip U.S. states and local governments of the right to refuse to accept refugees.
Under former President Trump‘s September 2019 Executive Order 13888, the federal government’s resettlement of refugees into American communities is a process that requires cooperation and consultation with state and local governments, taking into account state preferences, providing the best path to self-sufficiency for refugees, and respecting communities that may not be able to resettle them.
The Breitbart News’ Neil Munro notes that Trump’s refugee policy starting in September 2019 gives states, cities, counties and towns the legal authority to give local residents the right to stop local elites and drop new refugees into communities of the elites’ choosing. The mass placement of refugees is often done at the request of local employers, such as slaughterhouses, who want new immigrants to take on the low-paying, harsh and health-hazardous jobs that no one else would take.
Biden’s Feb. 4 executive order, which is unnumbered and long, is called the “Executive Order on Refugee Resettlement and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Immigrants, Reconstruction and Enhancement Programs,” and mentions that the federal government will consult with communities across the United States on refugee resettlement. The Executive Order also mentions that the federal government will consult with communities across the United States on refugee resettlement issues, but it emphasizes the need to expand the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).
Crucially, in the second part of the order, Biden requires the Secretary of State and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to submit a report within 90 days of Thursday that includes “recommendations on whether to uphold, reverse, or modify the Trump Executive Order. The executive order states that the report must also describe “the corresponding actions required of all agencies, including memoranda or guidance documents.”
Legal advocacy groups such as the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) in New York welcomed Biden’s new policy on refugee resettlement. Neil Menjor of Breitbart News noted that during the Trump era, Refugee Resettlement has been forced to fire a number of staff members due to reduced refugee inflows and federal funding, and that such groups have condemned former President Trump’s refugee policies.
In addition, some Democratic lawmakers have even urged Biden to refine and legislate this new executive order.
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