Tennessee Lawmakers Move to End Gov. Bill Lee’s Resettling More Refugees

A group of Tennessee lawmakers is moving forward with legislation to end Republican Governor Bill Lee’s authority over refugee resettlement across the state.

For Fiscal Year 2020, President Donald Trump will continue cutting refugee admissions by reducing former President Barack Obama’s refugee inflow by at least 80 percent. This reduction would mean a maximum of 18,000 refugees can be resettled in the U.S. between October 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020. This is merely a numerical limit and not a goal federal officials are supposed to reach.

Coupled with the refugee reduction, Trump signed an executive order that gives localities, counties, and states veto power over whether they want to resettle refugees in their communities. For now, a Clinton-appointed judge has blocked implementation of the executive order.

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