Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced last week that the Trump administration will reduce refugee admissions from 45,000 in 2018 to 30,000 in 2019. Mr. Pompeo offered some reasons for this decision: catching up on the 800,000 cases the State Department currently has on file, furthering national-security interests, prioritizing asylum and refugee applicants already in the country, and helping refugees return to their homes.
These are all reasonable concerns, and the last point is especially welcome. The administration is right to prioritize the restabilization of regions from which refugees now escape so that people have the opportunity to return to the land of their heritage. As an Iraqi immigrant raised in the Iraqi Christian community here in America, I know well the longing of many refugees to live at peace in their homeland. The peoples of this world, no matter their religion, deserve the choice to stay in that place they call home.
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