Trump Has Plans To Avoid Iranian Refugee Crisis — But War May Make It Inevitable
Many Americans fear U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran could spark another refugee crisis, but experts say the Trump administration has policies in place designed to prevent that outcome — even if officials have not clearly communicated the strategy.
Researchers with the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) told the Daily Caller that Trump’s war plans, Middle East travel restrictions and the refugee system’s current structure suggest the administration is not preparing to admit refugees at scale and instead expects Iranian migrants in the United States to return home.
“I think it’s safe to say there’s no plan for a wave of new Middle Eastern refugees to the United States of America,” Secretary of the Department of Defense Pete Hegseth said March 5. “I think, as the president has pointed out for a long time, there are a lot of countries in the region who would be capable of providing that kind of support if need be.”
Statements from the administration on this concern have been few and far between, and Hegseth’s admission that he merely “thinks” he is portraying the administration’s goals could signal to skeptics that the administration may not be as coordinated as one would hope.
Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie told Congress earlier in March that “a sustained war with Iran will not stabilize the region, it will radicalize new generations of terrorists, and it will send more swarms of refugees into Europe and the United States.”
Republican Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles joined him in saying that the U.S. cannot take refugees from Iran or the Middle East, saying, “it’s time for them to build their own government and make their land great again.” (Read more from “Trump Has Plans To Avoid Iranian Refugee Crisis — But War May Make It Inevitable” HERE)
