WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with 18 colleagues introduced a Senate resolution Wednesday acknowledging the courage, strength, and determination of women, men, and children forced to flee their homes because of persecution or conflict. June 20 is World Refugee Day.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has released startling new statistics showing that 68.5 million people were displaced in the world – “the worst displacement crisis in global history” – including 25.4 million refugees who have fled their home country. More than half of all refugees are children.
“The number of displaced persons across the world is shocking, and underscores the need for the United States to recommit to its historic leadership role and lead the international community in helping these vulnerable people,” Senator Cardin said.
Cardin also acknowledged the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexican border being exacerbated by the Trump Administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy. “The current crisis of children being removed from their parents at our southern border is an abomination, and it follows on a pattern of troubling migrant and refugee policies executed by the Trump Administration since its inception,” Senator Cardin said.
The Senate resolution acknowledges the troubling, growing displaced persons and refugee trends, and calls upon the U.S. government to uphold its historic international leadership role by providing humanitarian assistance to refugees, continuing to resettle refugees in the U.S. and provide protection overseas – regardless of nationality or religion, to work with international partners to continue finding solutions to conflicts that drive people out of their homes, and to help countries that are overburdened by large refugee influxes.
“America has a responsibility to be a leader on these issues and to lead by example, recognizing that diversity is our strength, and we have responsibilities to those who have been persecuted to be able to welcome those under reasonable vetting rules in line with our values and principles. On this World Refugee Day, I urge passage of this resolution and I ask President Trump to do the right thing and reverse these repressive un-American policies that he has put into place,” Senator Cardin added.
Cardin was joined on the resolution by U.S. Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
The text of the resolution can be found at this link.
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