26 Sep 2014 Refugee Status for Illegal Immigrants Rebutted

Posted at 20:10h in Blog, National Security/UN, Project 21 by

With the possibility that President Barack Obama may soon attempt to abuse federal refugee policy as a means of offering some sort of amnesty to illegal immigrants, Project 21 co-chairman Horace Cooper told One America News Network host Rick Amato that this potential action could hurt the prospects of legitimate refugees seeking relief in the United States from oppressive regimes and warlords in their home countries.

Speaking about a Project 21 data release on the issue of amnesty and refugee policy, Cooper said that a possible redefinition of refugee status by the Obama White House is unfair and probably unlawful:

Here’s some problems with that: One is [that] this isn’t going to allow for people like the Kurds in Iraq to be able to say, “Well, wait, ISIS is out of control.  We get to come to America.”  This isn’t gonna allow people in Nigeria, who are clearly persecuted by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups….

But, instead, it’s going to attempt to redefine — we believe unlawfully — redefine the definition of persecution to say if drive-by shootings are happening, if high levels of drug activity are happening or other kinds of mayhem and you don’t like it, you get to come to America.

It doesn’t seem to me to be a strong argument that ultimately will bear out, and this is the kind of thing that will lead to litigation.  But it’s not the role of the President to even take on this kind of approach.

Horace is also given some time at the beginning of the segment to provide a concise description of the purpose and performance of the Project 21 black leadership network.



Project 21, a leading voice of black conservatives for over 25 years, is sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research. Its members have been quoted, interviewed or published over 40,000 times since the program was created in 1992. Contributions to the National Center are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated, and may be earmarked exclusively for the use of Project 21.