Collect donations, find funders, recruit volunteers. A few days before the new year, everything is only a question of time. January 20 will mark the first day of Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office. A deadline for which refugee defense associations in the United States are preparing. Renowned for his anti-immigration policy carried out during his first term in 2017-2021, the Republican confirmed during his presidential campaign that he would remain on this same orientation once in power. In September, he proposed on the social network “Project 2025”, a political plan developed for the next Republican administration, even suggests that the future president cite the record number of migrant crossings that took place during Joe Biden’s mandate, to justify stopping the American immigration program. admission of refugees.
Since the election of the real estate magnate on November 5, refugee defense associations have been working to maintain the program. According to The New York Timesthe volunteers even tried to meet Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s candidate for secretary of state, in the hope of convincing him to preserve this system. In vain. Without the Republican backpedaling, many refugees whose resettlement in the United States has been approved could find themselves stranded abroad.
A race against time
A race against time is well and truly underway. Associations therefore no longer have a choice: they must act as quickly as possible. Some are already working to find funding to maintain aid operations for refugees already in the country, to find accommodation and hygiene kits for people in need, as well as to develop the volunteer base. Others are trying to speed up the arrival of people waiting in camps in Kenya, Jordan and Uganda. “My heart sinks when I see a family whose arrival is planned after January 20,” regrets to the New York Times Cynthia Shabb, executive director of Global Friends Coalition, a New Jersey nonprofit that welcomes refugees from around the world.
Before entering the United States, a refugee’s journey is strewn with pitfalls. According to the nonprofit Global Refuge, he must first be referred by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to be considered for the U.S. program. An interview is then carried out with the asylum seeker to approve or not their classification as a refugee. Once the meeting has taken place, the refugee selected to be received in the United States must “pass no fewer than 12 screening checks by various international and American authorities.” This long and rigorous procedure, which can last several years, explains why many refugees fear not being able to enter the country before the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States.
11,000 refugees under Donald Trump, 100,000 under Joe Biden
Especially since during his first term, Donald Trump had considerably reduced the number of refugees authorized to enter the country. In 2020, the United States welcomed approximately 11,000 refugees. A historically low level, when Joe Biden, in 2023, welcomed nearly 100,000.
Each year, the president determines the number of refugees the United States is prepared to take in in a given year. For decades, the American agenda has reflected the United States’ desire to be a staunch defender of human rights. And that doesn’t matter which party the president is in power. From 1980, when the system was created, to 2021, more than 3 million refugees have been welcomed.
But upon arriving at the White House in 2017, Donald Trump expressed particular disdain for people from predominantly Muslim countries like Yemen, Syria and Somalia, where war and famine have displaced millions of people, declaring that these refugees could pose a threat to national security. As a result, thousands of people, ready to be welcomed into the United States, found themselves stuck in camps.
The situation next January is all the more alarming because during its first term, the Trump administration had safeguards preventing it from applying all restrictive policies. For this new presidency, Donald Trump, who holds a Republican majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, should have significant room for maneuver. And it is not Tom Homan, appointed director of the agency responsible for border control and American immigration, who will oppose it. On the contrary, he has already declared that the United States could expect “a shock” for Donald Trump’s first day in office. From January, the number of refugees entering the country could therefore decrease considerably.