New Trump order fuels confusion about Vermont resettlement

WASHINGTON — A slightly scaled back immigration order President Donald Trump issued Monday morning did little to silence critics of his aggressive immigration agenda, and it leaves Vermont’s refugee resettlement programs in disarray.

A ban on travel from seven majority Muslim countries that he put into effect Jan. 27 was successfully challenged in federal court.

While Trump’s initial order also suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program indefinitely, the new decree pauses the program for 120 days, pending review of the vetting process. The suspension does not apply to refugees whose travel details will be confirmed by the formal implementation of the order March 16.

The new order also takes Iraq off the list of countries affected. But that list still includes Syria.

Vermont is slated to resettle about 450 refugees in the current fiscal year. Rutland had been approved to receive up to 100 Syrians and Iraqis when the first immigration order went into effect without warning. Two Syrian families had already arrived.

Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program Director Amila Merdzanovic said Monday that she had more questions than answers about the new order and declined to comment on it publicly.

Rutland Mayor Chris Louras also said he was seeking clarification from the federal government. He said, however, that the revised order does little to assuage his concerns that no more Syrian refugees will be allowed to resettle in his city.

Trump’s orders cut the number of refugees allowed into the United States in the 2016 fiscal year by half, from 110,000 to 50,000.

Louras said the new cap is “the most disconcerting piece of the original order that is included in the second order.”

More than 37,000 refugees have already been admitted into the country in fiscal 2016, which ends Oct. 1.

Louras said that with the impending 120-day ban, there will be little time to bring in 13,000 more refugees by the end of the year. He added that, because Rutland is a new resettlement site, it will likely be low on the list as federal resettlement efforts recalibrate after Trump’s directive.

Louras also said that there were no Syrian families who would have their travel plans cemented before the order goes into effect March 16.

“I’m incredibly disappointed,” Louras said.

Stacie Blake, the director of government and community relations at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, said Trump’s order Monday raised serious questions about the future of refugee resettlement across the country.

“We will continue to ask the administration to reconsider this ban that will cause so much harm to individuals who are in danger, who are fleeing violence, and we will continue to educate folks both in Vermont and across the country on the importance of this program,” Blake said. “We have no indication that there’s been a problem with the refugee program, and so why this lifesaving program has been singled out is unclear.”

Blake said that by pausing the program, the approval process would fall apart. In 120 days, many applicants’ approvals would expire, and they would likely have to begin the process at step one after the freeze is lifted, she said.

“On day 121, if you open the door, there may not be anyone standing there who is eligible to come through the door,” she said.

A number of state attorneys general are mulling whether to challenge Trump’s new ban in court, and the American Civil Liberties Union announced early Monday that it would sue, alleging that the new order remained an unconstitutional ban on Muslim immigration.

Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan did not return requests seeking comment on the ban.

The revised order now suspends visa processing for six Muslim countries, none of which has bred terrorists involved in recent attacks in America. A recently leaked memo from the Department of Homeland Security asserted that citizenship was an “unlikely indicator” of a terrorist threat.

Trump’s new order removes language protecting religious minorities and does not revoke visas of travelers who have already obtained them.

When the first order went into effect Jan. 27, chaos and protests erupted across the country as foreigners with the proper credentials were detained and interrogated at airports. Monday’s order will be implemented gradually over the next two weeks.

The new iteration of the order was reviewed by the departments of Justice, Homeland Security and State, and is seen as carefully crafted to withstand a legal challenge.

“Unregulated, unvetted travel is not a universal privilege, especially when national security is at stake,” said John Kelly, the Homeland Security secretary, in a short news conference Monday.

Trump derives his power to unilaterally freeze immigration for broad blocs of people from section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. That law allows the president to curtail immigration of certain groups on various grounds, including national security and terrorism concerns.

But while the commander in chief is granted broad national security powers, Vermont’s congressional delegation voiced disapproval for the Monday order.

“If you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig,” said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in a statement. “President Trump made it clear during the campaign that he intended to ban Muslims from entering our country. Doing so would be patently unconstitutional and make America less safe, not more. The courts struck down his first attempt, and I expect they will weigh in again on this tailored executive order.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the multistep, often multiyear vetting process for refugees made them “the most stringently vetted travelers to the United States.”

“Our country’s ideals and commitment to religious freedom should not be sacrificed so the president can attempt to save face,” Leahy added.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was also blunt in his condemnation.

“This ban is a racist and anti-Islamic attempt to divide us up,” Sanders said. “A president who respected our traditions of religious freedom would not have resorted to hateful, anti-Islamic rhetoric to justify a ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries.”

“This isn’t about keeping America safe,” Sanders concluded. “A president responsible for keeping our citizens safe would not hand over ideological ammunition to terrorists seeking new recruits to kill Americans.”

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