JFCS Pittsburgh urges the Federal Government to reconsider cuts to the refugee resettlement program in 2020.
On September 26, 2019, the federal government announced intentions to lower the refugee admissions ceiling for Fiscal Year 2020 to a mere 18,000 refugees. This number, lowered from the 2019 number of 30,000 is now the lowest number in United States history and comes at the same time that the worldwide refugee population, is the highest in recorded history.
The United States has proudly provided life-saving resettlement to over 3 million refugees over the history of the resettlement program. This is one of our nation’s proudest and longest standing traditions, including resettling Jewish refugees during World War II, Vietnamese refugees in the 1980s, and more recently refugees from the Sudan, Bosnia, Bhutan, Burma/Myanmar, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
As the largest refugee resettlement agency in the Greater Pittsburgh area and a HIAS affiliate, we will continue to work each day to strengthen and support refugees in their quest for safety, security and freedom.
We urge our elected officials to reconsider this devastating change to the refugee resettlement program and increase the number of refugees welcomed into our country in 2020.