Refugee program resumes with new precautions
WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump issued an executive order Tuesday to lift the freeze on the U.S. refugee program and establish a tougher vetting process for migrants. Earlier this year, the Trump administration restricted travel from terror-prone nations and paused admission for all refugees for 120 days. That period is over, and refugees can again request resettlement in the United States. But the executive order creates a 90-day review period for applications from 11 specific countries. The Department of Homeland Security would not name which countries but noted each had been previously identified as “posing a higher risk to the United States.” Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke said in a statement that government agencies conducted a thorough review of the previous refugee process and are ready to establish increased security measures. This includes increased data collection to investigate applicants more thoroughly, better information sharing between agencies to identify threats, and new training procedures to strengthen screener ability to detect fraud and deception. Refugees from the 11 high-risk countries will move forward on a case-by-case basis after the 90-day review.
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