Is there hope for greater protection for refugees? Support for refugees and immigrants was very visible at recent airport protests and on social media, but historically it has been a minority position in the United States. A Pew Center research report after the election argued that the US public “seldom has welcomed refugees,” pointing to polling data on Hungarians in the late 1950s, Indochinese in 1979, and Cubans in 1980. Opponents to the Trump administration’s travel ban hope to reverse or limit the effects through court orders or Congressional actions—they have temporarily succeeded in getting the ban suspended in court. Yet, if the rhetoric of the campaign is any indication, the overall direction of immigration policy is likely to remain restrictive under President Trump. The leading intergovernmental organizations, the International Organization for Migration and UNHCR, appear diplomatic but somewhat resigned. Humanitarian NGOs involved in both service delivery and domestic advocacy are more combative. Oxfam America condemned the executive order as xenophobic, and the International Rescue Committee called for an urgent rethink.
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