From Meredith Owen, Deputy Director of Policy and Advocacy, Immigration and Refugee Program, Church World Service:

Last week, the administration held a meeting to discuss plans for the refugee admissions goal for Fiscal Year 2020, with some administration officials previously proposing resettling zero refugees next year. This would decimate the bipartisan refugee resettlement program and follows FY 2019’s historically low goal of 30,000.

The administration has already been dismantling the refugee resettlement program and is planning to grant authority to states and localities to deny refugee resettlement in their communities, undermining U.S. law and violating our nation’s commitment to welcome the most vulnerable refugees. As people of faith who care about refugees, we must call for a robust refugee admissions goal of 95,000 in FY20 and prepare for a rapid response as soon as we hear how many refugees the administration plans to welcome in FY 2020.

For the top ways to take rapid response action, please check out our Rapid Response Toolkit: http://bit.ly/PDRapidResponseToolkit.

For more information, please check out RCUSA’s compiled resources: http://bit.ly/FY20PDResponseResources.

It is also critical that Members of Congress continue to hear that their constituents welcome refugees. By law, the administration must consult with Congress by the end of September, prior to setting the refugee admissions goal, which means Members of Congress can and must make their voices heard. Call House and Senate Judiciary Committee Members, who are in charge of consulting with the administration, and urge them to strongly condemn a low admissions goal and call for a robust refugee admissions goal of 95,000 in FY20.

Additional Resources: