Trump quietly slashes number of refugees from Obama’s target despite court order

Despite a court order halting most of his extreme vetting policy, President Trump’s administration has quietly been working toward his goal of a drastic cut in the number of refugees the U.S. will accept this fiscal year.

President Obama had set a target of up to 110,000 on his way out the door, but Mr. Trump tried to reset that number to 50,000. If the pace continues, the final tally is likely to be about 60,000 when the fiscal year ends in September — well below the level Mr. Obama wanted to lock in.

MSyrian children, evacuated from Aleppo, stand inside a tent at a refugee camp near Idlib, Syria, Friday, Dec. 16, 2016. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says 7,500 civilians have been evacuated from the Syrian city of Aleppo and that he … more >

Most striking is the drop in the number of refugees from the seven terrorist-connected special interest countries that Mr. Trump singled out for extra scrutiny in his executive orders: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

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Those countries accounted for about half of all refugees admitted over the final months of Mr. Obama’s tenure. But during the past six weeks, they have represented only about a quarter of the refugees — despite a judge’s order instructing Mr. Trump to keep Mr. Obama’s policies in place.

Source.washingtontimes.com