Blumenthal Statement on Reported Trump Administration Cap on Refugee Admissions

[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released the following statement today following reports that the Trump Administration is set to cap the number of refugees accepted into the United States for Fiscal Year 2018 at 45,000. This is the lowest number since the White House began capping refugee admissions in 1980.

“In the midst of a global humanitarian crisis that has led to 22 million refugees – more than half of whom are children – I am deeply troubled by the Trump Administration’s drastic reduction of the number of vulnerable and vetted people permitted to seek safe haven in our country,” Blumenthal said. “President Trump will keep in harm’s way women and girls fleeing Boko Haram, Syrian and Iraqi children who have lost their entire families to armed conflict, Rohingya escaping persecution in Burma, and so many others. This kind of draconian action doesn’t make us safer – in fact, it is a direct threat to our own security and our nation’s values.”