US: Syrian Refugees Don’t Want To Go To America
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations defended U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to severely restrict the number of Syrian refugees in the country despite spear-heading missile strikes to Syria by stating that the refugees do not want to go to America.
Nikki Haley said she had conversations with many Syrian refugees in camps located in Jordan and Turkey. She revealed that the majority of the refugees she spoke chose to stay in Syria or close to the region as possible:
“Not one of the many that I talked to ever said we want to go to America. They want to stay as close to Syria as they can.”
Last 13 April, the United States led a coalition consisting of military forces from the United Kingdom and France in a series of air strikes that targeted facilities suspected of manufacturing chemical weapons. The air strike was in response to an alleged chemical attack on the town of Douma in Damascus.
Since Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States, the number of Syrian immigrants in the U.S. dropped sharply. By way of comparison, under the administration of Barack Obama, the United States resettled 15,479 refugees in 2016. Under Trump, only 3.024 Syrians were granted asylum in 2017. In 2018, there have been only 11.
One of the first acts of Trump as President was to implement a blanket ban of immigrants coming from a number of Muslim countries. The ban included Syria. In addition, the President required tougher vetting systems for new immigrants.
Haley justified the U.S. decision to launch air strikes on Syria by saying that it benefited the Syrians themselves:
“I will tell you from a humanitarian standpoint, the U.S. has been a massive donor to this situation. But also when I talk to the refugees, they want to go home.”
Haley claimed the United States had spent $6 Billion so far on the conflict in Syria but reiterated that despite the success of the air strikes, there was a possibility Assad’s forces could strike again:
“We of course know that our work in Syria is not yet done.”
John Brennan who served as CIA director for Barack Obama said that President Trump’s decision of conducting air strikes was the right one to make. However, Brennan cautioned the President on saying it was “Mission Accomplished”:
“I’m sure this strike which was a tactical and surgical success has been a setback to the (Assad’s) program. But that doesn’t mean that the Syrians cannot recreate the chemical weapons to use once again.”
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