RUTHFULLY YOURS

President Trump has decided to double the number of refugees admitted every week, but hasn’t made a major announcement about it. Why not? Won’t that help make America great again?

Despite repeated efforts by President Trump to curtail refugee resettlements, the State Department this week quietly lifted the department’s restriction on the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States.

The result could be a near doubling of refugees entering the country, from about 830 people a week in the first three weeks of this month to well over 1,500 people per week by next month, according to refugee advocates. Tens of thousands of refugees are waiting to come to the United States.

The State Department’s decision was conveyed in an email on Thursday to the private agencies in countries around the world that help refugees manage the nearly two-year application process needed to enter the United States.

Although it came the same day as an appeals court ruling that rejected government efforts to limit travel to the United States from six predominantly Muslim nations, the move by the State Department had nothing to do with the court ruling.

Refugee groups now predict that entries into the United States could increase so rapidly that the total number of refugees admitted by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, could exceed 70,000. That is well below the 84,994 refugees admitted in fiscal year 2016, but not by nearly as much as many advocates had feared.

Refugee advocates were delighted by the State Department’s decision.

Many of those refugees are coming from unvettable countries like Syria.

Questions for discussion:

1) Is admitting refugees from unvettable countries part of “Putting America First?”

2) If a refugee whom Trump admits to the U.S. later kills some Americans, will Trump supporters say it could have been worse because at least Hillary Clinton wasn’t the one to admit them?

3) If Trump truly believes in security for our nation, can you think of any rational reason why he is doing this?