World Relief Issues Official Statement on the One Year Anniversary of the Travel Ban
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
January 25, 2018
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World Relief Issues Official Statement on the One Year Anniversary of the Travel Ban
BALTIMORE, MD – World Relief, one of the largest refugee resettlement organizations in the country, issues the following statement reminding Americans that this Saturday, Jan. 27, marks the one year anniversary of President Trump’s executive order (often referred to as a “travel ban”) limiting the number of refugees allowed to resettle in the United States and its effects on families from war-torn regions around the world struggling to survive:
“It has now been one year since the Trump administration signed an executive order preventing families fleeing tragic situations throughout the world admission to the United States as refugees. Thousands of men, women and children from countries such as Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Myanmar, who in years past would have found America to be a place of refuge and hope, have sadly been denied the opportunity to seek shelter on our shores this past year.
Over the course of the first year of the Trump Administration, just 29,725 refugees have been admitted to the U.S., compared to 99,183 the previous year. Even as President Trump set the refugee arrivals ceiling for this fiscal year at a historically low 45,000, we are only on track to resettle half that number.
In addition, about 27,000 fewer Christian refugees were admitted in the first year of the new administration than in the previous year, a decline of 63 percent, and about 80 percent fewer Muslim refugees were admitted during the same period. The combination of drastically reducing the refugee arrivals ceiling with the various executive orders affecting refugees over the past year have harmed persecuted Christians as well as those of other faiths.
Make no mistake, this has been a net loss for our country. For centuries, families from around the world have made America their home after escaping horrors similar to the ones in countries that have been affected by various incarnations of the travel ban. These families have become an intricate part of the fabric of our country—working here, paying taxes here, raising their children here and sharing with all of us the amazing testimony of overcoming adversity.
Refugee families don’t tear America apart, they make us stronger. They come to America, which President Reagan once described as a “shining city on a hill,” and they make our light shine brighter.
We pray that President Trump and elected officials from each side of the aisle would ensure that we remain a beacon of hope to ALL people seeking a better a way of life.”
To learn more about World Relief’s efforts to care for refugees already in the United States and in vulnerable communities around the world, visit: worldrelief.org/welcome.
MEDIA NOTE: Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief, Jenny Yang, vice president of Advocacy and Policy, and Matthew Soerens, U.S. director of Church Mobilization, are available for interview. To schedule interviews, please email MediaInquiries@TheKcompany.co or call (424) 341-1912.
Download the PDF version of this press release.
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World Relief is a global humanitarian relief and development organization that stands with the vulnerable and partners with local churches to end the cycle of suffering, transform lives and build sustainable communities. With over 70 years of experience, World Relief works in 20 countries worldwide through disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding and has offices in the United States that specialize in refugee and immigration services.
Website | worldrelief.org Twitter | @WorldRelief