I have helped several kind, hard-working Syrian Kurdish refugees reunite with their familiy members who were abroad, and go on to get their green cards in the U.S. In a few years they can apply for U.S. citizenship. But all have relatives and friends abroad, many of them still in danger in Syria. Other Syrians have been in Turkish refugee camps for years, or have gone on to resettle in Germany and other European countries, as well as in the U.S.
Since 2017 the U.S. has abandoned its traditional humanitarian role as a refuge for oppressed people. Even before the current government came into office, the U.S. took in far fewer refugees than its population and history would justify. Turkey has been home – now endangered – for 3 million Syrians fleeing their government. Germany took in around 890,000 asylum seekers from Syria and other countries in 2015. In contrast, President Obama set a limit of 85,000 refugees for the 2016 fiscal year, and raised that to 110,000 refugees the following fiscal year. The Trump administration has decreased the number of refugees it will allow into the U.S. every year since. Recently it announced plans to allow only 18,000 refugees to resettle in the United States in the 2020 fiscal year, the lowest number in the history of the modern refugee program. In a word, this is disgraceful.
Because of the travel ban Trump also imposed on Syria and other mostly Muslim-majority countries, it is extremely difficult for any Syrian to get any type of U.S. visa including green cards sponsored by family members or employers; student visas, and visitor visas, Even if they meet the qualifications for the visa, it won’t be issued unless they can get a waiver of the travel ban, which is almost impossible.
So those who have not found a permanent home are stuck mostly in Syria and Turkey, in extremely dangerous circumstances. Now that the U.S. has betrayed and abandoned the Kurds in northern Syria, and has allowed President Erdogan of Turkey and his allies to attack them without consequence, they are at risk of death. They helped the U.S. defeat Isis to no avail. Wherever you are, please contact your lawmakers to support the Kurds in Syria and Turkey, and take any other humanitarian and political action to help these people.
