B Stands for Broad Sweeping Actions
Over the past few weeks, we have seen many immigration-related announcements with significant implications for immigrants and refugees in the United States, as well as those in the legal process of arriving to the country.
On November 21st, the Trump administration said that it would reopen the cases of tens of thousands of people granted refugee status under the Biden administration. Refugees are the immigrants that undergo the most thorough and rigorous vetting process, and this order will negatively impact refugees and the broader population, as this explainer from the Forum details.
Following this news, several devastating and alarming actions took place during Thanksgiving week. On November 26th, two National Guardsmen were shot in Washington D.C., resulting in a critically wounded Staff Sergeant and the tragic death of Specialist Sarah Beckstrom. The shooter was identified as an Afghan national, evacuated to the United States in 2021 under the Operation Allies Welcome program after clearing multiple rounds of rigorous vetting. He was granted asylum under the Trump administration earlier this year.
In response to this horrific shooting, the administration has enacted several broad and extreme immigration-related actions:
Additionally, on Thanksgiving Day, President Trump posted that he would "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries," while repeatedly attacking the Somali population in Minnesota.
The shooting over Thanksgiving week was devastating. The Forum strongly condemns violence and prays for the wounded members of the National Guard and their families who are grieving. With that, Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the Forum, states that "We must not attribute the actions of one person to an entire community." In a statement responding to the shooting, World Relief, a faith-based refugee resettlement organization, calls for immigration policies that "protect national security and extend compassionate welcome to our foreign-born neighbors," rather than policies that vilify and punish many for the actions of one.
The reality is that harmful rhetoric and broad actions will not only hurt the immigrant population by removing authorization from asylum seekers on the legal path toward adjudication and turning our back on our Afghan partners (see Murray’s CNN interview on that subject here). They will also impede national security efforts as more strain is placed on the immigration system, preventing further review and strengthening of the vetting process, and blocking the creation of innovative immigration processes, as stated by leaders of the Council on National Security and Immigration.
Amid this heaviness, it continues to be important and urgent to speak out and advocate for our immigrant neighbors. We need to continue to call for responsible immigration legislation that strengthens national security and respects the human dignity of all. We cannot let rhetoric filled with fear and hate win. Let us work together in difficult times with the hope that things can and will be different, so everyone can flourish.
Stay committed and hopeful,
Allison Bassett
Field and Constituencies Manager
Forum
P.S. At the Forum, we work with a lot of amazing programs and partners to bring people along with us to advocate for important and urgent bipartisan immigration reform. Would you consider contributing to our cause by making a donation so we can continue this work? Any contribution will greatly help us expand and deepen our work toward compassionate and secure immigration solutions!
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