One of the hardest things about writing these articles is having too much information. Having to cut information because it doesn’t fit well in the flow of an article is an occupational hazard, and often leaves me feeling like I didn’t tell the whole story. As I was researching my last article, “Visions of Violence in Venezuela”, I ended up with some extra information about the hypocrisy of the Trump administration that I decided I could not push to the side.
Trump’s hypocrisy is well documented, but this to me felt especially blatant. When the UN met for their September Summit, President Trump addressed the gathered representatives. In his speech he talked about the military might of the United States and defended his America First politics saying “the future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots.” He spoke against the Chinese government and bragged about the economy, but the part of the speech that stood out to me was his discussion about Latin America.
He spoke about Venezuela, arguing that socialism is a dangerous force and stating that “America will never be a socialist country.” He also spoke to Venezuelans directly, stating:
To the Venezuelans trapped in this nightmare, please know that all of America is united behind you. The United States has vast quantities of humanitarian aid ready and waiting to be delivered. We’re watching the Venezuela situation very closely. We await the day when democracy will be restored, when Venezuela will be free, and when liberty will prevail throughout this hemisphere.
This honestly came as a surprise to me. In all the news coverage about Venezuela, humanitarian aid is not something that has been discussed. This passage also stood in stark contrast to the message Trump had sent to immigrants earlier in the same speech.
Using an unusual oratorical strategy, he spoke directly to potential immigrants, saying:
To anyone conducting crossings of our border illegally, please hear these words: Do not pay the smugglers. Do not pay the coyotes. Do not put yourself in danger. Do not put your children in danger. Because if you make it here, you will not be allowed in. You will be promptly returned home. You will not be released into our country as long as I am president of the United States.
Now remember, these two quotes are from the SAME speech. The mind boggles. However, I suppose these two statements could both align with Trump’s “legal immigration only” policy, even if they seem antithetical in message. But as we know, even legal immigration has been curtailed under the Trump administration, with large caravans of refugees turned away at the border. Therefore, I think hypocrisy remains the vibe.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I found out that American officials at the UN summit had blasted European leaders for not offering more aid to Venezuelan refugees. As I was rolling my eyes at this blatantly hypocritical attack, I got an email about a new USCIS press release. On September 26th, 2 days after Trump gave his speech telling Venezuela that America was going to stand with them, and urging European leaders to offer more aid to refugees, Ken Cuccinelli put out a statement about refugee resettlement for the Fiscal Year of 2020 saying:
The United States is the most generous country in the world when it comes to humanitarian relief efforts, and we are committed to maintaining that leadership position. In keeping with that goal, the President has proposed that we resettle 18,000 refugees from around the world, which will be in addition to the hundreds of thousands of asylum applicants we will process.
At first this seems to support the President’s claim that we are standing behind the people of Venezuela, until you realize that for the Fiscal Year of 2019 we accepted 30,000 refugees, nearly double what we will accept in 2020. Also important to note that 30,000 is a cut from the 45,000 refugees we accepted in 2018.
To me, the slimiest part of this whole hypocritical business is the fact that Ken Cuccinelli phrased this dramatic cut in the number of refugees we will accept as if it were some generous favor to the world. To cut the number of refugees we’re accepting, while urging other nations to be more generous is hypocritical, but to simultaneously claim that we are committed to maintaining our “leadership position” as a generous nation is just reprehensible.
After learning about the situation in Venezuela, including the threat of military action on the part of the US which, if carried out, would surely create an even greater refugee crisis (again, see my previous article), this double talk on immigration and refugee resettlement feels important. It feels important in its cruelty, in its hypocrisy, and as another piece of the confusing puzzle that is US foreign policy under this administration.
If you have any questions about this situation, please feel free to contact me at thecommonthieme@gmail.com or on twitter @thecommonthieme