U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services acting Director Ken Cuccinelli says the Trump administration will turn away persecuted Christians who seek to bypass a new cap on refugees by claiming asylum at the border.
“We’ll turn them back,” Cuccinelli told reporters on the White House driveway.
Cuccinelli bristled at being asked about the effect of a new 18,000-person refugee cap on persecuted Christians seeking protection in the United States.
“I take issue with how you ask your alleged question,” Cuccinelli said when first asked about the impact on Christians.
The new limit nearly halves the previous annual refugee cap of 30,000. But the lower refugee limit doesn’t impact grants of asylum, meaning people can still enter the U.S. and seek protection from persecution.
Asylum is claimed when a person reaches U.S. soil, whereas a refugee applies while living overseas.
The new refugee cap includes 4,000 slots for Iraqis who worked with the U.S. military, 1,500 for Central Americans, and 5,000 for religiously persecuted people. There are 7,500 slots without a specific designation.
“The refugee cap was divided up in a way that reflects America’s priorities. That doesn’t mean there aren’t millions of refugees around the world,” Cuccinelli said.
Cuccinelli said persecuted Christians who walk across the southern border to claim asylum would be ineligible under a recent policy that seeks to deny asylum to people who enter the U.S. after first reaching Mexico.
“If they haven’t tried to claim asylum in a country they’ve come through — this doesn’t apply to people from Mexico, for instance — then under the now existing asylum rule, they no longer qualify,” he said.
An official accompanying Cuccinelli scolded a journalist who pressed him on whether persecuted Christians “can’t get in at all.”
“Your anger is quite apparent,” the aide chided.
