Four senior Democratic lawmakers have criticized members of the Trump Administration for failing to appear before Congress to discuss the administration’s refugee admissions plan. In a joint statement, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Sen. Dick Durbin, and Sen. Alex Padilla condemned Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., after they sent deputies instead of attending the required consultation themselves.
The lawmakers stated: “Fifty-one days after the legal deadline, the Trump Administration today came to Capitol Hill in response to our monthslong bipartisan demands that they follow the law and consult with Congress on their refugee admissions plan.
“It is outrageous that Secretaries Noem, Rubio, and Kennedy were too cowardly to come before us and explain their shocking decision to abandon nearly 130,000 vetted, approved refugees facing persecution and violence abroad. Instead they sent their deputies, in brazen violation of the lawwhich explicitly requires a consultation by ‘Cabinet-level representatives of the President.’
“The Trump Secretaries ignored their legal obligations to face us because their policy is indefensible. It is impossible to defend leaving desperate families—men, women, and children who were promised a lifeline—twisting in the winds of global violence. It is impossible to justify a policy that abandons America’s historic commitment to offering safe harbor to the persecuted. Trump’s team has slashed refugee admissions to the lowest level in our nation’s history and reserved the bulk of the few remaining slots for white South African Afrikaners. They didn’t show up because their betrayal is unspeakable.
“The U.S. Refugee Resettlement program has always been a bipartisan matter of pride for our country, and a critically important tool in our toolbox for achieving multiple goals that are critically important to American interests. The destruction of the program will hurt our humanitarian and diplomatic efforts for decades to come.
“After months of evasion, diversion, and invoking the Republican shutdown as an alibi, the Administration thought they’d pacify us with more disrespect for the law. They were sorely mistaken.
“The Secretaries couldn’t be bothered to come to Congress today, but they should at least learn the route: they’ll be spending plenty of time here when Democrats retake the gavel.”
The statement follows continued disputes between Congress and executive branch officials over compliance with statutory requirements regarding refugee consultations.
