Having read several articles in the past few days about the pending White House decision on the number of refugees that will be allowed to come into the country annually, one thing is clear: White House policy adviser Stephen Miller is apparently doing as much as he can to push that number to historic lows and has allegedly tried to spike a report showing that refugees offer a net positive economic impact.

Vanity Fair notes in a recent article that every year on October 1, the president of the United States is required to set the number of refugees that will be allowed into the country for the fiscal year, as decreed by the Refugee Act of 1980.

“Given that the current president is Donald Trump, it probably won’t surprise you to learn that his administration is currently considering slashing the limit to its lowest level since the Refugee Act was created,” writes Bess Levin.

According to reports, “certain members of Team Trump want the number to be fewer than 50,000, which would be less than half of the 110,000 refugees Barack Obama said should be admitted in 2016. It probably also won’t come as much of a shock to learn that in making this argument, certain members of the administration are choosing to actively ignore the government’s own cost-benefit analysis of refugees,” writes Levin.

Writing in Mother Jones, Kevin Drum reports that as part of his executive order banning refugees, Donald Trump ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to produce a report about the economic impact of refugees.

“The answer, according to HHS, is that refugees contributed $269 billion in tax revenue and used $206 billion in services, for a net positive impact of $63 billion over the past decade,” writes Drum.

But when the final report was released, “it presented only half the story,” Drum reports.

In a Sept. 20 editorial, the Washington Post, citing a New York Times article, said that the administration “sent the report back for a redo, insisting that any mention of revenue be dropped. The Department of Health and Human Services obliged in a final, three-page report this month, which concluded that per-person departmental program costs for refugees were $3,300, compared with a per-person cost of $2,500 for the U.S. population as a whole.”

Miller “is leading the charge to slash the number of refugees admitted in the fiscal year starting in October, below even the cap of 50,000 that Mr. Trump imposed this year — itself the lowest number in more than 30 years,” the Post said.

The New York Times “reported Tuesday that Miller has advocated for around 25,000 refugees, and that the Department of Homeland Security proposed a cap of 40,000,” the Atlantic reported.

The Supreme Court agreed with the Trump administration Sept. 12 “and put on hold a lower-court decision that would have allowed more refugees to enter the country” (the Washington Post).

The court issued a one-paragraph statement “granting the administration’s request for a stay of the latest legal maneuvering involving the president’s executive order on immigration. There were no recorded dissents to the decision,” the Post reported.

Meanwhile, Department of Homeland Security officials “plan soon to submit to the White House a report that is likely to shape the future of President Trump’s entry ban, a key portion of which is set to expire Sept. 24, authorities said,” the newspaper reported Sept. 13.

A group of attorneys general from 15 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Sept. 6 to stop the Trump administration “from winding down the DACA program, which granted a reprieve from deportation to undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children,” the Washington Post reported.

“It’s outrageous. It is. It’s outrageous. I’m not going to put up with it,” WAshington State AG Bob Ferguson said at a news conference in Seattle, where he was joined by Gov. Jay Inslee and a half-dozen DACA recipients (Seattle Times,Sept. 6, 2017).

Along with Washington state and the District of Columbia, the states suing over DACA are: New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.

President Trump on Sept. 5 “ordered an end to the Obama-era program that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation, calling it an ‘amnesty-first approach’ and urging Congress to pass a replacement before he begins phasing out its protections in six months,” the New York Times recently reported.

Pelosi urged Trump to offer Dreamers assurances

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spoke to President Trump “by phone on Thursday and asked him to issue a tweet reassuring young undocumented immigrants that they won’t be deported in the next six months,” the Hill newspaper reported.

“Pelosi told reporters at a Capitol news conference that she told Trump to make clear that recipients under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, often referred to as “Dreamers,” shouldn’t fear imminent deportation as the Trump administration phases the program out over the next six months,” the Hill reported.

Here is a link to Trump’s tweet.

Mark your calendars for Oct. 13. Artist Ai Weiwei’s new documentary about refugees, “Human Flow,” is scheduled for limited release in the U.S. on that date.

Here is a recent Washington Post article about the documentary.

I am posting this story to make sure it doesn’t get lost in the huge volume of news related to President Trump’s decision to terminate DACA. Alex Guillen, a Dreamer, made the ultimate sacrifice to help others:

“A ‘dreamer’ dies trying to save Harvey victims, days before Trump plans to end DACA”

The Washington Post posted this story on Sept. 5 about Alex Guillen, a 31-year-old Mexican immigrant and Dreamer, who died while trying to help Houston residents affected by Hurricane Harvey.

President Trump on Sept. 5 “ordered an end to the Obama-era program that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation, calling it an ‘amnesty-first approach’ and urging Congress to pass a replacement before he begins phasing out its protections in six months,” the New York Times reported.

“As early as March, officials said, some of the 800,000 young adults brought to the United States illegally as children who qualify for the program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, will become eligible for deportation. The five-year-old policy allows them to remain without fear of immediate removal from the country and gives them the right to work legally,” the newspaper reported.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, “a longtime opponent of the policy, made the formal announcement Tuesday morning” NPR reported.

Trump’s decision “decision to end an Obama-era policy protecting undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children has sparked immediate blowback in Silicon Valley, where the industry’s two most valuable companies—Apple and Alphabet—were both co-founded by the children of immigrants, and where foreign talent has helped turn the Bay Area into the greatest wealth-generation machine in the world”(Vanity Fair, Sept. 5).

Obama weighs in

Former President Barack Obama posted a statement on Facebook saying that to “target these young people is wrong – because they have done nothing wrong. It is self-defeating – because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel. What if our kid’s science teacher, or our friendly neighbor turns out to be a Dreamer? Where are we supposed to send her? To a country she doesn’t know or remember, with a language she may not even speak?”

Protests occurred throughout the country on Sept. 5 in the wake of the news.

Washington, D.C.

“‘We are America’: DACA recipients, supporters say they are not going anywhere” (Washington Post, Sept. 5)

New York City

“Dozens arrested at DACA protest at Trump Tower” (ABC News, Sept. 5)

San Francisco

“Protesters Rally in SF Against Trump’s DACA Decision” (NBC News, Sept. 5)

Congressional reaction

While Trump has decided to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, at the same time he gave Congress a six-month window to provide a legislative fix for DACA.

It’s too early to say whether Congress can get a bill across the legislative finish line in half a year, but here are some early reactions from key lawmakers:

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House minority leader: “The President’s cruel and heartless decision to start deporting DREAMers in six months demands an immediate response from the Republican Congress. Speaker Ryan and the Republican House leadership must bring the DREAM Act to the floor for a vote without delay.”

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.: “I personally will not support any funding bill that does not include a safe harbor for DREAMers – and I will work to have others join me in opposition. If they need our votes, we are bringing 800,000 young immigrants with us. I have already spoken with Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and will be talking to other Democrats in the House, but if Republicans need our votes, we need to have legislation to protect immigrant youth who have DACA.”

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., Speaker of the House: “The president’s announcement does not revoke permits immediately, and it is important that those affected have clarity on how this interim period will be carried out. At the heart of this issue are young people who came to this country through no fault of their own, and for many of them it’s the only country they know. Their status is one of many immigration issues, such as border security and interior enforcement, which Congress has failed to adequately address over the years. It is my hope that the House and Senate, with the president’s leadership, will be able to find consensus on a permanent legislative solution that includes ensuring that those who have done nothing wrong can still contribute as a valued part of this great country.”

Groups react

Immigration and other groups with a stake in the immigration debate weighed in on Trump’s decision.

Ali Noorani, Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum: “Republicans in Congress now have a huge opportunity. They can get credit for providing a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers. They can draw on the support of local and national evangelical leaders, conservatives in their own party and hundreds of CEOs — as well as 73 percent of Trump voters. Or, Republicans in Congress and the administration will share the credit for the anguish that begins now and will only increase with each passing day. We must not deport these young immigrants and the American promise they and their families represent. That’s not who we are.”

On its website, LULAC urged supporters of DACA to “tell the Trump administration and Congress to #DefendDACA!” via social media or email. LULAC staff attended a protest in front of the White House on Sept. 5.

Lorella Praeli, director of immigration policy and campaigns at the American Civil Liberties Union: “Today is a cruel day for Dreamers, our families, and all Americans. President Trump’s decision to end DACA is a manufactured crisis in response to an artificial deadline from anti-immigrant leaders. There is no humane way to end DACA before having a permanent legislative fix in place.”