Critics say US strikes against Assad ring hollow as resettlement of refugees from war-torn country drops 99% from 2017

Donald Trump declared “mission accomplished” after the US led airstrikes on Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma which killed 42 people.



His administration was immediately criticized for its reluctance to accept people fleeing the war-torn country: in the past six months, the US has accepted 44 Syrian refugees – just two more than died in the Douma gas attack.

This week, Trump’s travel ban was back in the supreme court, as the legal battle continues to rage around his most high-profile effort to curb migration. But behind the scenes, a slew of other measures has already slashed refugee resettlement to the US.



“The administration has turned its back on the country’s historical practice of welcoming and resettling refugees in this country,” said Jennifer Sime, senior vice-president of US Programs at the International Rescue Committee (IRC).



I just want to be peacefully with all my family around me: I think that is the simplest right of any human

The US government has said it will admit 45,000 refugees from around the world in 2018 – the lowest number in more than 30 years – but advocates say that the country is on course to admit barely half that number.

US vetting procedures were already rigorous before the government made them more stringent in October 2017 with additional measures including extra security vetting and a 90-day halt on refugee admissions from “high risk” countries.



These new measures and three attempts to introduce travel bans have caused a sharp decline in resettlement and sewn deep uncertainty in people fleeing danger or hoping to rejoin their families.

“Nobody is against the vetting system. We all recognize that it needs to be there and that is OK,” said Sime. “But making refugees jumping through unnecessary hoops is something that should be examined.”

Play Video 1:06 Syrian state TV appears to show aftermath of airstrikes – video

The IRC says it anticipates no more than 23,000 refugees will enter the US before the fiscal year ends on 30 September.

For Syrians, the numbers have decreased from 5,839 resettlements in the first half of fiscal year 2017 to 44 resettlements in same period in 2018 – a 99% drop.

Eman and Amneh, two sisters from Damascus, reached the US in February 2017, before the additional measures were in place, and now live in Idaho.



But they left behind their father and Amneh’s husband, who she had just married. At the time, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) told them the men would be able to follow in six to eight months on refugee relative petition, but more than a year later, there is no sign that the family will be reunited.

Syrian medics 'subjected to extreme intimidation' after Douma attack Read more

“It was really hard at the beginning. It is still hard,” said Amneh, 25. “You cannot know what the future will bring, and you cannot know when you will meet your husband, your dad.

“I just want to be peacefully with all my family around me: my dad, my husband, my sisters and my brother. And I think that is the simplest right of any human.”



UN ambassador claims no Syrian refugees want to resettle in US

More than 5.4 million people have fled Syria since the civil war broke out there seven years ago, most of them to nearby countries in the Middle East.

Earlier this month, Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, was asked to explain why the US could target Syria with missiles, but admit almost no refugees from the country. In response, she claimed that Syrians she had met in refugee camps do not actually want to come to the US.

“Not one of the many that I talked to ever said we want to go to America,” Haley said. “They want to stay as close to Syria as they can.”

But one of the 44 Syrian refugees to resettle in the US in the past six months told the Guardian he was joyful to be in the US.

“I was so happy and excited when they told me I was going to America. Everybody over there was dreaming of coming here,” said Imad, 55, now living in Atlanta. “They said I was one of the lucky ones.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A bus convoy carries women and children out of Douma and into refugee camps. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

He arrived in Georgia in October 2017 with his wife and three of his children, after fleeing his home in southern Syria in 2012 for Jordan. (Like Eman and Amneh, Imad asked to withhold his surname to protect family members still in Syria.)



After nearly five years of waiting, Imad said arriving in the US was a relief. The only snag was that his 28-year-old son remains in Jordan even though he filed for resettlement before the rest of the family.

“My wife is crying all the time,” said Imad, speaking through an interpreter. “We’ve called them 50 times. We don’t know why they have separated us.”

He speaks frequently to his son, who he said is suffering from the uncertainty and the separation from his family.

Imad apologized for sharing what he said was a sad story, and he was at pains to stress that he was grateful to the US. He said: “We’re just hoping our son will also come here and that we will be happy and united again.”

Uncertainty weighs on refugees in US hoping to reunite with family

Refugee resettlement has historically received bipartisan support in the US, but that shifted after 130 people were killed in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks (even though the perpetrators were European citizens).

Trump further weakened US support for refugees days after taking office, when he made his first attempt to introduce a travel ban on refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Amneh and Eman were caught up in the chaotic unrolling of the ban in January 2017.

They had been set to travel to the US with their mother, two brothers and Eman’s children when the trip was abruptly cancelled. Just as abruptly, their trip was rescheduled six days later.

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After four years as refugees in Egypt, the relief of finally traveling somewhere they hoped they could rebuild their lives was paired with their fear of heading to a country whose government didn’t want them.

“I had never heard about Boise,” Eman said. “I didn’t know what life will be like in Boise. It’s very difficult and fearful to a person.”

Eman still finds life in Idaho challenging. She said she has been upset by people’s assumptions about Arab culture – one neighbour told her she was surprised her father let his daughters go to school.

While the family was still in Egypt, Eman’s husband tried to head on to Europe, but drowned in the Mediterranean, so her father became especially important to her three children, aged seven, six and three.

The 30-year-old widow said they speak to their grandfather every day by phone and tell him how easy it is to get to the US, if he would just board a plane. Sometimes, they ask her if he hasn’t traveled to the US because he doesn’t like them.

“They are not adjusting,” Eman said. “All the time when I pick them up from school they say they want their dad.”