The number of refugees being legally resettled in Texas has fallen sharply from the last year of the Obama Administration into the first year of the Trump Administration, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Chris Kelly, who runs Refugee Services of Texas, says 3500 legally admitted refugees were resettled in Texas between October 2016 and March of 2017. Over the same period this year, between October of 2017 and March of 2018, that number is only 700.
Kelly says since the decision on whether to admit refugees is a federal matter, it is the Administration which drives refugee intake, and this Administration is decidedly anti-refugee.
"This myth that somehow refugees are terrorists, who are dangerous," Kelly said. "They have created a bureaucracy to essentially engineer the restriction of refugees who are allowed to come to the United States."
He says legally admitted refugees go through a years-long vetting process before they receive legal permanent residency, and it is a very involved vetting process. Far from being criminals or terrorists, refugees are generally the best a country has, because they are specifically not involved in the turmoil that is engulfing their homeland and forcing them to flee.
"I think over the long run, or hope is that policy will change," Kelly said. "Because we will get people of good will, bipartisan support, who will emphasize out role as America to welcome refugees."