Once a haven for refugees, California sees admissions dwindle under Trump

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

In the fall of 2016, Mohanad Al-Manasser received a call that he’d long yearned for. His mother and brother, refugees from Iraq, had been assigned to come to Northern California.

Finally, years after fleeing death threats in their war-torn homeland, the family members were on their way to being reunited. Al-Manasser moved to a bigger apartment in the community of Antelope north of Sacramento, set up what would be his mother’s room, and waited.

He’s still waiting. A few months after the call, President Trump put in place a temporary ban on the U.S. refugee program, which was followed later in the year by a freeze on refugees from Iraq as well as a cutback on total refugee admissions.

“I have my country here in America,” said Al-Manasser, 42, who worked for the U.S. Army in Iraq. “But my family does not have a country.”

Al-Manasser’s relatives, who are now in Oman, are among tens of thousands of people hoping to make it to the U.S. even though the Trump administration slashed the yearly cap on refugees to 45,000 from 110,000 under former President Barack Obama.

Everyone can't come to America or it would no longer be America.