In wake of Trump executive order, LA City Council declares it is ‘Welcoming City’ for refugees

In wake of Trump executive order, LA City Council declares it is ‘Welcoming City’ for refugees

This fall, the Trump administration gave state and local authorities the power to reject refugees from being resettled in their communities, as well as further reducing the number of refugees allowed in the country.

The limit represents the lowest number of refugees seeking protection from violence or political persecution allowed into the country since the modern refugee program was established in 1980.

The new cap, which marks the third time the Trump administration has dwindled the refugee limit, would also be a more than 80% decline compared with the last year of the Obama administration, when the U.S. allowed up to 110,000 refugees who were fleeing war, persecution and poverty to resettle in America.

Trump officials also announced that this year cities and states will have to provide written consent before accepting foreigners fleeing persecution, allowing localities to opt out of accepting refugees.

Several cities and states are now clamoring for refugees.

Several mayors and governors have come forward in recent days to affirmatively declare their support for receiving refugees. In Utah, Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, wrote Trump a letter asking the president to “allow us to accept more international refugees in Utah.” About 1,000 refugees are resettled to the state annually.

“Unfortunately, that number has dropped for the past two years and is on track to decrease more this year,” he wrote. “We know the need has not decreased and are eager to see the number of admittances rise again.”

However, most of these entities are not dealing with Medieval diseases and an exploding homeless population. Despite the current public health crisis plaguing the area, the Los Angeles City Council adopted a resolution Friday that declares the city a welcome place for refugees.

Councilmen Bob Blumenfield and Mitch O’Farrell led a presentation before the council voted at the Van Nuys City Hall.

“Today is a historic day for the city, for people who have made this their new home,” Blumenfield said. “They seek admittance to a safer city where they can rebuild their lives.”

…O’Farrell said he would like the city to send a memo to the Trump administration that states refugees and immigrants help the nation and that they become “exceptional Americans” once they become assimilated.

“Many years ago, all Americans, unless they were Native Americans, were refugees or immigrants to this country,” O’Farrell said. “It’s ironic and very sad that the descendants of many of those refugees … are now supporting this criminal in the White House trying to prevent other refugees from enjoying the same benefit that their ancestors benefited from.”

Councilman Paul Koretz said as the world’s refugee population continues to grow, the policies in place are making it more difficult to resettle them in the U.S.

It is a good thing virtue-signalling isn’t toxic, as the City Council has released enough to be seen from space.

Instead of worrying about refugees, the City Council should be focused on doing more to solve the homeless crisis for the people who are legally living in the state. However, that would entail actual work and hard decisions.

For those refugees who settle here, they will probably end up longing for the third world conditions from which they fled. Welcome to the homeless camps, rats, and infectious disease.

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