WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees, released a statement on Friday on the Trump administration’s plans to cap the number of refugees that the United States will accept in FY 2018 to 45,000. A cap of 45,000 would be the lowest refugee admissions goal since 1980. 

“Trump’s refugee cap is cruel and unjustified,” said Murphy. “I strongly urge him to reconsider his decision before it’s too late. The United States has a high bar for those that we bring to our country, and no refugee that’s gone through our vetting system has ever committed an act of terrorism in the U.S.. We welcomed around 200,000 refugees during the Balkan Wars, 700,000 refugees from Cuba, and more than 700,000 refugees from Vietnam. Our country has a long, bipartisan history of being a refuge for those fleeing persecution and violence. We cannot continue to sit on the sidelines of a humanitarian crisis on such a massive scale.”

Earlier this week, before President Trump announced the 45,000 cap on the number of refugees that the United States can accept in FY 2018, Murphy joined U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in leading a bipartisan group of senators, including U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), urging Trump to set a robust refugee admissions goal. They emphasized that the current global humanitarian crisis requires strong American leadership.

Around the world, 22.5 million are refugees, more than half of whom are children. An unprecedented 65.6 million people have been forcible displaced from their homes because of violence, persecution, and war. 

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