The Trump administration — facing international backlash over an immigration policy that separated thousands of migrant children from parents — boasted about helping the “most vulnerable” around the globe on World Refugee Day.
In a statement released on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump‘s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. is a world leader in helping refugees around the world.
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“The United States will continue to be a world leader in providing humanitarian assistance and working to forge political solutions to the underlying conflicts that drive displacement,” the statement read.
It also said that the U.S. provides more humanitarian aid than any other country in the world, and outlined several areas of the world where it has recently provided assistance.
Among them included Rakhine State, where the persecuted Rohingya of Myanmar are from. Pompeo also highlighted the U.S. has provided nearly $277 million in aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo since October 2016.
The statement also said the U.S. maintains a “steadfast commitment” to helping Syrian refugees.
“Since 1975, the United States has accepted more than 3.3-million refugees for permanent resettlement – more than any other country in the world,” it read.
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But the statement made no mention of the current immigration crisis in the U.S., which has led to more than 2,300 migrant children being separated from their parents at the country’s border.
While migrant families aren’t necessarily refugees, the administration has also faced criticism for its handling of refugees.
Trump signed an executive order to end the separation policy on Wednesday, but he explained that there was still a “zero-tolerance” policy that criminally prosecutes all adults caught crossing the border illegally.
It’s also unclear what the plan is, if any, for reunification of the families that have been separated. Photos from the detention centres show children lying in cage-like structures and sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
The practice was likened to “child abuse” by the United Methodist Church, which U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions belongs to.
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In a press release this week, Oxfam America highlighted that there are currently more refugees in the world than ever before. According to the report, the U.S. is expected to resettle roughly 25,000 refugees this fiscal year, which it says is the lowest level since the Second World War.
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“The refugee resettlement program is one of America’s greatest symbols of solidarity and compassion. It has enjoyed bipartisan support for decades, through both Republican and Democratic administrations,” Noah Gottschalk, Oxfam America’s humanitarian policy lead, said in the release.
“But over the past two years, however, the Trump Administration has waged an all-out assault on this institution.”
But the U.S. isn’t the only country that was called out on World Refugee Day. Advocates also called out Canada, saying it can do more to help marginalized individuals.
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The Ottawa-based Broadbent Institute issued a petition calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen to take a stronger stance against U.S. immigration practices and suspend their Safe Third Country Agreement.
The agreement holds that U.S. and Canada are both “safe” countries for those seeking asylum, but that is no longer the case, the institute argued.
Hussen said on Wednesday that Canada will continue to monitor the U.S. immigration situation.
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The Trudeau government issued its own statement on World Refugee Day.
“No one becomes a refugee by choice. We are all capable of helping refugees rebuild their lives and protecting them from famine and warfare,” the statement from Hussen read.
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“Canada has a longstanding tradition of providing humanitarian support to people from all over the world fleeing war and persecution, and we remain committed to helping refugees as they rebuild their lives in safety.”
The statement also said Canada focuses specifically at those most at-risk, such as women and girls and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
More than 90,000 refugees have entered Canada since November 2015, including 52,000 Syrians.
World Refugee Day by the numbers
As of the end of 2017, there were 68.5-million people forcibly displaced by issues such as violence, political unrest and human-rights violations, according to the United Nations.
The number of refugees across the world is the highest it’s ever been at 25.4-million people.
There are 40 million who are internally displaced and 3.1-million individuals who are asylum seekers.
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The UN explains that means one in every 110 people in the world is either displaced, a refugee or an asylum seeker.
Many refugees lack access to basic necessities, while children often don’t receive a proper school education.
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