Trump Camp Slams Obama-Clinton Plan to ‘Force Americans to Accept’ More Refugees: We Need to Focus on Helping Americans
Donald Trump’s campaign slammed the Obama administration’s plan to increase the importation of foreign refugees by 30 percent.
On Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry briefed U.S. senators of the administration’s intention to admit 110,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2017.
This figure represents 10,000 additional refugees in addition to the administration’s formerly stated objective of 100,000 refugees in FY 2017. Chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, Sen. Jeff Sessions, pointed out that this represents “a roughly 57 percent increase in the number of refugees the United States admitted as recently as FY 2015, and a roughly 29 percent increase from the Administration’s target for FY 2016.”
Sen. Sessions suggested that these proposals represent “a complete betrayal” of the American people, who oppose such “radical” immigration policies. “The American people do not support these radical plans, which amount to a complete betrayal from their leaders in Washington,” Sessions said.
In a written statement, Trump’s immigration adviser, Julie Kirchner, formerly the executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), accused Obama and Hillary Clinton of pushing immigration policies that go against the interests and desires of the American electorate.
Kirchner argued that rather than “trying to force”Americans to accept more refugees, U.S. lawmakers should be advancing policies that put the needs of the American people first.
“Before President Obama’s failed presidency comes to an end, he is trying to force Americans to accept 30 percent more refugees–providing ISIS a path for their terrorists to enter the country,” Julie Kirchner wrote. “In recent years, hundreds of foreign born terrorists have been apprehended in the United States alone.”
Kirchner explained that Clinton, who “runs as President Obama’s third term,” similarly supports expanding the refugee program:
As Clinton runs as President Obama’s third term, she has pledged a 550 percent increase in Syrian refugees on top of existing massive refugee flows coming into our country during her first term. It has been estimated that Clinton’s refugee plan could bring in 620,000 refugees in her first term and create a lifetime cost of over $400 billion.
Kirchner argued that “instead of providing free healthcare to millions of refugees, we must focus on rebuilding our inner cities and bringing jobs back to America.”