Press Release

 

 

For Immediate Release       
Contact: Dan Gordon , 617-651-0841
Dec. 17, 2020

**Welcoming Refugees a National Security Priority, Experts and Advocates
Agree**For a recording of today's panel contact Dan Gordon
.

** **

**WASHINGTON, D.C.**- A robust refugee resettlement program is
critical to both upholding American values and strengthening national
security, speakers on a live panel agreed today.

Panelists touched on the dismantling of the U.S. refugee program, the
destabilizing impact of forced displacement, and the need to increase
resettlement and address root causes of displacement - topics
addressed in a new paper

from Elizabeth Neumann, a National Immigration Forum senior advisor who
served as a national security expert at the Department of Homeland
Security under the Trump administration.

The following are quotes from panelists:

**Elizabeth Neumann, senior advisor to the National Immigration Forum on
national security and former assistant secretary of counterterrorism and
threat prevention at the Department of Homeland Security under the Trump
administration:**"My experience in the Trump administration convinced me
that its approach to refugees made the U.S. and the world a more
dangerous place. We must repair this damage by increasing the refugee
ceiling within our vetting capacity and engaging in the critical and
complex work of addressing the root causes of forced displacement.
Strengthening the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program and security vetting
systems will keep us safe and enable more refugees to resettle more
quickly within the United States."

**Terron Sims, military veteran and author:**"The United States owes it
to those foreign nationals who assist in our missions in their
countries, to provide them safe haven when they can no longer call their
home, home."

**Matthew Soerens, U.S. director of church mobilization & advocacy,
World Relief:**"The U.S. has a strong record of simultaneously
protecting American citizens and offering safety and freedom to some of
the most vulnerable people in the world through the U.S. refugee
resettlement program. We need not choose between being a compassionate
nation and being a secure nation. A return to a robust refugee
resettlement program will be both an expression of the best of American
values and an important foreign policy tool to advance U.S. interests
around the world."

**Ali Noorani, president and CEO, National Immigration Forum:**"A robust
refugee resettlement program is a prime example of policy that is both
practical and compassionate: It not only upholds our core values as a
free and welcoming nation; it furthers our strategic interests by
strengthening our national security and re-establishing our
international leadership. As we look ahead to a new administration and
Congress in 2021, refugee resettlement presents a meaningful opportunity
for bipartisan leadership that honors our nation's legacy as a beacon
for those seeking safety."

###

 

 

**Follow Us**

 

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

 

 

 

The

**Only in America** podcast brings you to the people behind our
nation's immigration debate.

 

Listen now on:

 

**iTunes**
,
**Stitcher**
,
**Spotify** ,
and **more.**

 

 

National Immigration Forum

50 F Street NW, Suite 300

Washington, DC 20001

www.immigrationforum.org

 

Unsubscribe from Press Releases oropt-out from all
Forum emails.

 

                                               
           
_________________

Sent to [email protected]

Unsubscribe:
[link removed]

National Immigration Forum, 50 F Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20001, United States