Sharon Stanley-Rea

Opinion contributor

President Donald Trump plans to slash refugee admissions to an unprecedented low of 18,000 in the next 12 months and permit states and localities to block resettlement in their communities. This is deeply wrong and devastating. Trump is putting the lives of thousands of refugee families — the most desperate cases in the world — at dire risk.

Just last week, at a joint congressional hearing addressing the Trump administration's immoral Muslim travel ban, we listened to heart-wrenching stories from Ismail Alghazali and Abdollah Dehzangi, who are separated from their families due to this ban. “I live in darkness and they are my light. ... I’m a bird without wings when I’m without my family,” Alghazali said in his testimony.

Our nation is living in darkness as Trump holds the Statue of Liberty hostage and robs America of its welcoming values, diversity and culture.

Longer waits, less hope for refugees

Resettlement is a refugee’s last option for safety. Less than 1% of the world’s nearly 26 million refugees will ever be resettled to a new country, and only the most at risk are even considered.

Refugees well along in the U.S. resettlement process are already languishing in camps, waiting for safety and reunification with loved ones. Now their waits may be longer; the Trump administration's new admissions cap is 81% below the historical annual average of 95,000 across Republican and Democratic presidencies.

Afkab Hussein is a Somali refugee separated from his family due to the multiple Muslim and refugee bans. He arrived in 2015 with the promise that his wife and newborn son would be able to join him shortly after, he told me. Even though they were approved for resettlement nearly three years ago, Afkab is still waiting for his wife and son.

In my work among refugee colleagues for over 20 years, I learned of the life-sacrificing loyalty that Southeast Asian refugees provided the United States when we fought for years together against communism in their homelands. U.S. veterans regularly resurfaced stories, often with tears in their eyes, of how Hmong refugees saved their lives in the highland jungles of Laos whenever U.S. planes were shot down over their villages. Ukrainian refugee colleagues in our office likewise inspired me as they shared their courageous decisions to flee their birthplace in the face of religious persecution.

The deep commitment to family support, education and resiliency from refugees is absolutely heartening.

Refugees are a gift to America

Dismantling the U.S. resettlement program is wrong, and we all need to stand against any ban, reduction or rejection of refugees. It will deprive our communities of the many gifts offered by refugees, damage our historic commitment to be a welcoming nation, and especially harm refugee families themselves.

“I want people to see that we are all so similar to one another and we have stories and we as a community make our nation and make this country beautiful. ... I want people to know that we all bring different strengths as we come together as a community and it's just really important to be able to just love others." These are the words of Montha Chum, a refugee from Cambodia who has made our country her home.

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Chum captures the spirit of brave immigrants and refugees coming to our nation for a better life. And like Chum, refugees and immigrants have become essential drivers of economic growth. They create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, buy homes and become part of the social fabric of the United States. As history has shown, when our country embraces our rich diversity, we are fortifying our economy for all.

Congress has power to fix this

Actions like Trump's damage the freedoms that we cherish. So many refugees and immigrants came to this country with next to nothing, yet they built up our society with their ideas and passion to thrive. To make the situation more challenging, Trump recently opted for a public charge rule that only sees value in immigrants who are wealthy.

We must value all families regardless of their faith, the color of their skin or how much money they have. Family values means keeping families together and honoring the contributions that immigrant Americans make to our country.

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Congress has the power to hold the administration accountable in restoring the U.S. resettlement program to historic norms and passing important legislation like the GRACE Act, which sets a minimum annual refugee admissions goal at the historic average, 95,000, and the Reuniting Families Act, which offers a strong and compelling solution to unite families.

All families deserve the chance to be together. When the United States government responds to a humanitarian crisis, we must have policies that show compassion and welcome, not discrimination or rejection.

The Rev. Sharon Stanley-Rea is director of Disciples Home Missions' Refugee & Immigration Ministries at Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a partner in the Value Our Families coalition. Follow her on Twitter: @StanleyRea