History of the United States Policy on Refugees
1920's America
Some of the first governmental actions in the United States regarding refugees were as early as the 1920’s. In that time, the U.S. established the Emergency Quota Act and the Immigration Act of 1924 (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). The Emergency Quota Act created the first national origins quota system regarding immigration within the U.S. (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). The Immigration Act of 1924 was the first permanent limitation on immigration, creating the, “national origins quota system,” which set the annual immigration quota as 2% of the number of people given nationality in the U.S. (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). This quota system changed in result to the desirability of various nationalities. Often, western European countries were given large quotas, while Asian nationalities were almost excluded in entirety (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). Senator Robert Wager promoted the quota increase to allow 20,000 Jewish children to come to the United States from Nazi Germany, but was rejected by congress in 1939 (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016).
40's and 50's
In 1948, the Displaced Persons Act was the first indication of U.S. policy towards admitting people who were fleeing persecution and allowed for the admission of 205,000 people during two years (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). Shortly after, in 1951, the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted which outlined the rights of people seeking asylum and the responsibilities of hosting nations. This included defining the term refugee as a, “A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it” (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). With this, the responsibility of refugees globally was in the hands of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016).
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In the 50’s there were several changes regarding refugees in the United States. In 1952, the Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted to remove racial limitations of immigrants and authorize the Justice Department to deport naturalized citizens or immigrants that engage in subversive activities (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). The 1953 Refugee Relief Act soon authorized the admission of 214,000 refugees from Europe due to war as well as refugees from countries dominated by Communists (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). The Refugee-Escapee Act defines refugees-escapees as, “persons fleeing persecution in Communist-dominated and Middle Eastern countries” (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). Following the revolution in Hungary, President Eisenhower invited 30,000 Hungarian refugees to enter the United States on parole status (they were not granted immigration visas) (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016).
60's and 70's
In the 60’s and 70’s several more changes were made regarding the rights of refugees in the United States. In 1960, The Fair-Share Act was declared to permit the Justice Department to admit larger numbers of refugees under parole status (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). The Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 sought to use funds towards the needs of the new refugee and migrant population within the U.S. (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 abolished the quota requirements previously instated and instead established a new policy on the premise of reuniting immigrant families in an effort to bring skilled labor to the United States (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). In 1975, Congress passed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Act after the fall of Saigon and the end of the war in Vietnam. This act allowed roughly 200,000 refugees from Cambodia, Laos, and South Vietnam to enter the United States with financial assistance (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016).
80's and 90's
The 1980 Refugee Act brought the number of annual immigrants allowed into the United states up to 320,000, including 50,000 refugees under the definition provided by the United Nations (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). With this act came an estimated 125,000 Cuban refugees seeking asylum in Florida after the Communist regime of Fidel Castro (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). The American Homecoming Act granted admission to 10,000 children to the United States to be fathered by U.S. citizens (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). The 1987 Amerasian Homecoming Act led to the admission of upwards of 10,000 children (and their mothers and siblings) fathered by American GIs (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016).
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The 1990 Immigration Act allowed for a temporary protective status for people fleeing war, generalized violence, and natural disasters in efforts to strengthen the family unit immigration policies and set the first immigration ceiling (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016). In 2001 the United States adopted the USA Patriot Act to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act in efforts to broaden the criteria of people ineligible for admission or deportable due to terrorist activity. This included people who are; “representative of a political, social, or similar group whose political endorsement of terrorist acts undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts; has used a position of prominence to endorse terrorist activity, or to persuade others to support such an activity in a way that undermines U.S. antiterrorist efforts; or has been associated with a terrorist organization and intends to engage in threatening activities while in the United States” (History of Refugee Resettlement in America 2016).
With the recent election of President Donald Trump, there are several executive orders that are critical to the existence of the refugee population both living in the United States currently as well as hoping to enter the country (Trump 2017b). The first executive order on the matter was Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States, signed January 25, 2017 (Trump 2017b). The purpose of this order is to enforce immigration laws to maintain national and public safety with concern of illegal aliens entering the United States or overstay within the country (Trump 2017b).
It is noted in this executive order that, “sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States,” and that these jurisdictions have caused harm to American citizens as well as the foundation of the Republic (Trump 2017b). This order continues by saying that tens of thousands of removable aliens (many criminals who have served jail time while in the U.S.) were released into communities due to their home countries refusal to reaccept them into their countries (Trump 2017b).
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While Federal immigration law currently includes a framework designed for Federal-State partnerships to enforce immigration laws and ensure the removal of illegal aliens, the Federal Government has not used this option. According to Trump, it is not possible to execute immigration laws of the United States if classes/categories of removable aliens are considered exempt from potential enforcement. Thus, this order is designed to employ, “all lawful means to enforce the immigration laws of the United States” (Trump 2017b).
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The second executive order enacted by Donald Trump that is of importance to the refugee crisis is his order; Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorists Entry into the United States. In this order, President Trump explains the purpose as being that the visa-issuance process is a critical way of identifying people who have ties to terrorists and stopping them from entrance into the United States (Trump 2017a). He cites the events of September 11, 2001 as a reason for needing to limit access to the United States by terrorist people and states that the updated visa process has yet to, “stop attacks by foreign nationals who were admitted to the United States” (Trump 2017a).
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Trump explains that many foreign-born people have been convicted/implicated in various terrorist crimes since the September 11th attack, including foreign nationals who have entered the country either through the refugee resettlement program or after receiving visas as a student, employee, or visitor (Trump 2017a). Trump indicates that the conditions of many countries dealing with war, disaster, or civil unrest may increase the probability of terrorists attempting entry into the United States, thus requiring the United States to be cautious of the visa-issuance process to protect the American citizens (Trump 2017a).
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Section three of this executive order details the suspension of issuing visas and immigration benefits to countries, “of particular concern,” including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia (Trump 2017a). The Secretary of Homeland Security along with the Secretary of State and the Director of National Intelligence will be conducting a review to determine what is needed from any country to be issued visas, admission into the United States, and any government benefits to immigrant populations in an effort to determine that the individual is who they claim and are not a security threat to the public of the United States (Trump 2017a).
This executive order goes on to explain President Trump’s plan to suspend entry to the United States for immigrants and nonimmigrants for a 90 day period starting with the date signed on this order (Trump 2017a). He goes on to state his concern in accepting Syrian refugees to the United States as being, “detrimental to the interests of the United States,” until he feels that sufficient changes have been made to the USRAP (United States Refugee Admissions Program) (Trump 2017a). He also indicates that there will be no more than 50,000 refugees accepted into the United States within the fiscal year of 2017 due to it being seen as detrimental to the United States interests (Trump 2017a).