New York Governor Urges Pompeo To Keep Refugee Resettlement Sites Open - Letter

The US Department of State should maintain the current number of refugee resettlement sites in the state of New York, despite the fact that the administration is allowing fewer asylum-seekers into the country, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a letter published on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th December, 2018) The US Department of State should maintain the current number of refugee resettlement sites in the state of New York, despite the fact that the administration is allowing fewer asylum-seekers into the country, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a letter published on Tuesday.

The letter comes amid concerns that the President Donald Trump's administration may close a number of resettlement sites after lowering the cap on refugee admissions to the US earlier this year.

"It is my understanding that the State Department is now considering reducing the number of refugee resettlement sites in Buffalo after the Administration's unconscionable move to lower the refugee cap to record lows," Cuomo wrote in his letter to State Secretary Mike Pompeo. "It is critical that all four of these existing resettlement agencies are kept open to continue the essential work of welcoming refugees to our community.

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The New York Governor argued that the facilities in question are critical to integrating refugees and revitalizing the region. Over the last five years, resettlement sites in Buffalo, New York, have housed over one-third of all refugees who arrived to the state, Cuomo said.

In October, Trump announced that the United States would only admit 30,000 refugees into the United States during fiscal year 2019, marking the lowest admission cap since the refugee program began in 1980. In 2016, the last year of former President Barack Obama's term in office, the United States admitted almost 85,000 refugees, according to State Department figures.