Looking through FAIR’s old newsletters this week I was struck by one article from 1999 about refugees from Kosovo. You can read the full article in this scanned graphic, but one point sticks out – our refugee policy hasn’t improved in 16 years. In the story, FAIR pointed out that the Clinton administration was aiding Slobodan Milosevic by permanently resettling refugees far away from the conflict area.
As we noted back then, and with special relevance to another group of refugees seeking to come to the U.S. today from Syria:
“It makes no sense to bring the refugees into a permanent resettlement program if the objective of our military action is to assure that the Kosovars can return to their homes. Historically, every group that has arrived “temporarily” has remained here permanently. FAIR again commented publicly, “This decision by the administration will, if anything, only encourage ethnic cleansing in many other troubled areas of the world.”