Refugee program at risk

In the recent cascade of national and local tragedies (Charlottesville, hurricanes, Freeman High School), refugees are easily forgotten. They are 21 million-plus unseen sufferers of long-term tragedy who rarely break into the news cycle. Their future hangs in the balance.

President Trump and his advisers are considering how many refugees to admit this coming year (beginning Oct. 1). Historically, our nation has welcomed an average of roughly 100,000 per year since the program began in 1980. Reports suggest that some advisers are proposing an 85 percent reduction. Presumably, this is related to security concerns. Yet no evidence has been offered to support any security threat from refugees, and the already extensive vetting process has worked perfectly for over 3 million refugees since 1980. Not one refugee has ever killed someone in America in a terrorist act.

Slashing refugee admissions would likely destroy the entire refugee resettlement infrastructure (including closing World Relief Spokane, the main refugee resettlement and support agency in the region), obliterate America’s moral leadership globally and undermine the safety of our troops overseas.

Please call, write, email, tweet our president and ask for at least 75,000 refugees for fiscal year 2018.

Mark Finney, Director

World Relief Spokane