Kushner, Descendant Of Refugees, Defends Trump Slashing Asylum-Seeking Entries
Jared Kushner Image by Getty Images
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said it “doesn’t make a difference” whether the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States has been significantly lowered by President Trump.
Kushner, whose grandparents arrived in the country after fleeing the Holocaust, shared his views on immigration with “Axios on HBO” on Sunday.
He said his family’s survival from “the precipice of life and death” showed “how great this country is.” But he followed that with a caveat — when it comes to the hundreds of thousand of refugees seeking entry, “You can’t have all of them come into your country.”
Kushner said he supported Trump, his father-in-law, in his decision to further slash the cap on refugees. The number is now the lowest its been in 40 years, Axios reported.
“I think the amount of money you can spend to help refugees to resettle in their countries and deal with aid is very impactful,” Kushner answered.
The White House’s current budget proposal calls for a 90% cut to the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, which handles refugee issues.
Last year, in an effort to change the asylum policies, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the immigration organization that helped Kushner’s grandparents settle into the U.S., tried to share with Kushner his grandparents’ immigration files. The organization’s CEO said that Kushner never got back to them.
Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
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