US to Cap the Number of Refugee Asylum Seekers to 30,000 in 2019, down by 33% from 2018

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the US will cap the number of refugees allowed into the country at 30,000 for fiscal-year 2019, down from the cap of 45,000 last year. Former president, Barack Obama, set a cap of 110,000 refugees to be admitted for fiscal year 2017. Pompeo says the US now is processing applications of more than 280,000 asylum seekers, adding to another 800,000 already processed but awaiting adjudication. Most of these are from Central America classified by the Administration as ‘economic migrants’ who should not be permitted to stay. -GEG

Washington (AFP) – The Trump administration slashed its annual cap on refugee acceptances Monday for the second year in a row, saying it would take a maximum of just 30,000 in the fiscal year to come.

That was down from a 45,000 limit in the year that ends on September 30 — but higher than the actual number of refugees resettled in the past year, around 21,000.

It was the lowest number for the State Department’s refugee program since it was instituted in 1980.

“The improved refugee policy of this administration serves the national interest of the United States, and expands our ability to help those in need all around the world,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

“We are and continue to be the most generous nation in the world.”

The new level was barely over one-quarter of the 110,000 cap set by former president Barack Obama for fiscal year 2017.

The sharp fall is part of President Donald Trump’s overall crackdown on immigration.

“We will continue to assist the world’s most vulnerable while never losing sight of our first duty: serving the American people,” Pompeo said.

Pompeo said the burden of hundreds of thousands of asylum requests, most of them from Mexicans and Central Americans, had taxed the bureaucracy assessing applications.

He also said that the government had to be more careful not to admit potential criminal and terror threats.

“Already this year we have seen evidence that the system previously in place was defective,” he said.

“It allowed a foreign national to slip through who was later discovered to be a member of ISIS, as well as other individuals with criminal backgrounds.”

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Austrian Town Halts Immigration After Asylum Seekers Brutally Rape 15-Year Old Girl

Austria: The mayor of Tulln informed the government that his town will no longer accept ‘asylum seekers’ after a 15-year old girl was brutally raped by two Somali men and another from Afghanistan.  Authorities kept the town’s population in the dark about the vicious attack for a month. –GEG

A town in Austria has refused to accept any more “refugees” after three migrants gang-raped a 15-year-old girl.

The young girl was making her way home on the evening of April 25th when she was grabbed and “brutally raped,” according to reports. The suspects are two men from Somali and one Afghan.

The town’s mayor responded to the incident by informing the government that Tulln would not be accepting any more refugees until further notice.

“For me, there is zero tolerance against asylum seekers who abuse their guest countries law. In view of what these criminals have done to the girl, the full severity of the law is required,” said Peter Eisenschenk.

Freedom Party Councillor Christian Hafenecker questioned why authorities did not inform the public about the incident “for almost a month,” putting people’s safety at risk.

“Countless cases already show that the migration of predominantly Muslim men under the cover of the asylum becomes an uncontrollable danger. It is therefore not at all clear why the Tulln’s population was not promptly warned by the police,” he said.

This is by no means the first time that Austria has been subjected to the “cultural enrichment” that newly arrived migrants bring.

An Iraqi refugee who raped a 10-year-old boy at a swimming pool in Vienna later had his conviction overturned because judges found that he believed the child had consented.

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