Eric Welsh recently spoke to Vox about how a second Trump presidency might impact the US refugee program, comparing Trump’s actions during his first term to steps he’s expected to take as he returns to office in January.
“Every president has used their powers to either expand or contract as circumstances might fit,” Eric tells Vox. “It’s something that is very, very susceptible to his influence.”
Eric explains that when Trump’s first term began in 2017, he paused refugee admissions for three months and barred Syrians from the refugee program through the following year.
“The justification was to determine if [the US refugee program] was safe and secure because of alleged security risks,” Eric continues. “And then he kicked that a step further with the Muslim ban, by specifically banning [refugee] applicants from certain countries.”
“The concern is, this time around — with four years to think about it — Trump would try and do [a travel ban] again and do it better, because he has so much authority in this arena.”
