Billionaire Koch Brothers: Americans Must Not ‘Turn Our Back’ on Refugees

The billionaire, pro-mass immigration Koch brothers’ network of organizations are already railing against a rumored plan by President Trump to end all refugee resettlement to the United States, stating that Americans must not “turn our backs” on refugees.

This month, reports have circulated that the Trump administration could further reduce the inflow of refugees arriving in the U.S., as Breitbart News reported. Federal immigration officials have requested that the current refugee cap — reduced by Trump to 30,000 annual admissions, which is merely a numerical limit and not a goal to be reached — be cut to anywhere between zero or 3,000 to 10,000.

The halt to refugees being admitted to the U.S. would be a pause after nearly four decades of the country admitting thousands of foreign nationals through the resettlement program.

Before the proposal is made official, the LIBRE Initiative, one of the GOP mega-donor Kochs’ organizations, is blasting a refugee reduction, saying Americans should not “turn our backs” on the world’s migrants.

LIBRE Initiative President Daniel Garza said in a statement:

The United States has long stood by its commitment to offer refuge to those whose very existence is threatened because of their political beliefs, their religion or for other reasons. Resettling refugees here saves lives and families – and sometimes whole communities. Additionally, we know that the vast majority of refugees who come here – like other immigrants – make immeasurable contributions to our nation. They remind us of the dangers of oppressive and tyrannical governments, and they contribute to our communities, economy, and our nation. [Emphasis added]

With this in mind, it would have an adverse effect to further reduce – or even eliminate entirely – refugee admissions that have already been slashed. We should not simply turn our back on those who face oppression around the world, and who yearn for nothing more than to live freely and realize their full potential. [Emphasis added]

The Kochs’ support for large-scale refugee resettlement to the U.S. matches 2020 Democrat presidential primary candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) plan to import at least 700 percent more refugees to the country, as Breitbart News has noted.

The U.S., thanks exclusively to Trump’s reforms, helped lower the total number of refugees to about 22,000 admissions last year. This is a 76 percent decrease in foreign refugee resettlement from President Obama’s 2016 totals that reached almost 100,000 admissions. Trump also cut Obama’s surge of Syrian refugees arriving in the U.S. by more than 60 percent.

Warren would reverse that reduction of refugees, adding another at least 154,000 refugees to American communities every year who would be forced to absorb nationals at the mandate of the federal government.

Refugee resettlement costs American taxpayers about $1.8 billion a year and about $8.8 billion over the course of five years, research by the Federation for American Immigration Reform has revealed.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.