Trump Halts Program to Bring Jewish, Christian, Baha'i Refugees from Iran

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: AP/Talking Points Memo

VIENNA (AP) — Austria has shut its door to about 300 non-Muslim Iranians hoping to use the country as a way station before establishing new homes in the United States, The Associated Press has learned. The action is an early ripple effect of U.S. President Donald Trump's effort to clamp down on refugee admissions.

Under a 27-year-old program originally approved by Congress to help Jews in the former Soviet Union, Austria had been serving until recently as a conduit for Iranian Jews, Christians and Baha'i, who were at risk in their home country and eligible to resettle in the United States. Iran has banned the Baha'i religion, which was founded in 1844 by a Persian nobleman considered a prophet by followers.

U.S. officials had been interviewing the candidates in Austria because they cannot do so in Iran. But the United States suspended the so-called "Iranian Lautenberg Program" in recent days, according to Austrian officials, who in turn stopped Iranians from reaching their territory. It's unclear when the program might restart.

The episode isn't directly linked to an executive order Trump signed Friday that orders strict new screening for refugees to keep "radical Islamic terrorists" out of the United States. But it reflects the knock-on effects already occurring from his tougher line on immigration and refugees. Similar to how tighter German migration rules had consequences across Europe, Trump's actions could lead other nations to take a harder look at people wishing to use their territories as transit points.



Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-ends-program-to-bring-jewish-christian-baha-i-refugees-from-iran

[Stargleamer]

1. With him, it's always, ALWAYS, WTF! n/t

[nycbos]

2. On my birthright trip to Israel there was and Iranian Jew who has recently arrived in the US.

He came here via Vienna.

[grantcart]

3. Baha'i's long term status in Iran is tenuous

While the situation has improved since Ahmadinejad they are more vulnerable than other groups because it is perceived not as a competing religion but as a perversion of Islam and face death threats.

The transit site in Austria referred to in the article was the processing point for many refugees in the cold war but is best known as being the main transit point for all of the Jews that left the Soviet Union on their way to the West.

After the fall of the Shah I processed many Iranians who were trapped in SE Asia, many of them Baha'i.

Currently there are almost 1,000,000 Iranian Americans living in the US including about 250,000 in Southern California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Bah%C3%A1'%C3%ADs

[JI7]

4. he only wants white racists who cheer his ugly ass in the country

[George II]

5. If any blocked refugees die, HIS blood will be on his tiny hands.