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THE Martin Zogg RESCUERS The International Rescue Committee’s Martin Zogg talks about resettling refugees, under siege by the Trump administration, here and around the world. BY KATHLEEN KELLEHER PHOTO: Courtesy of International Rescue Committee The world is witness to unparalleled levels of human suffering, with the numbers of displaced people exceeding even the devastation of World War II, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. More than 65 million people, or 24 per minute, are displaced by conflict and persecution. For refugees who can flee, resettlement in countries offering safe haven and a new start saves lives. Many die trying to escape war, poverty, famine, drought and oppression. The German newspaper Der Tagesspiegal recently published the names of 33,293 refugees who drowned en route to Europe from 1993 to <strong>2017</strong>. Last year proved the deadliest on record — 5,000 migrants died or disappeared while crossing the Mediterranean Sea. But here in the U.S, the Trump administration has stopped welcoming refugees, drastically cutting the overall number allowed in and banning arrivals from certain Muslimmajority countries who lack ties to the U.S., while battling a series of court rulings blocking the country’s most restrictive travel ban, primarily impacting Muslims. President Trump slashed the total number of refugees allowed into the U.S. for the year that started Oct. 1, imposing a limit of 45,000 — down from 110,000 — the lowest number in more than three decades, according to the Pew Research Center. Though the move resumed the refugee admission process (Trump had suspended it by executive order soon after assuming office in January), a partial ban on refugees from six majority-Muslim countries is now in effect and a complete ban could still be enacted, reducing refugee numbers even more, depending on future court rulings. The partial ban bars arrivals from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen who lack a “bona fide” relationship to family, a company or a university in the U.S. Family ties are defined as “grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.” The latest ban also bars entry by certain Venezuelan government officials and most North Koreans. Administration officials also announced that 11 unidentified countries will be subject to a 90-day review for possible threats. The 11 impacted countries remained unnamed at press time. Advocates for refugees strongly object to the administration’s new order reducing the number admitted to the U.S. and the implementation of the partial ban. They point to the exhaustive vetting process already in place for refugee applicants, the strictest security scrutiny applied to any traveler to this country. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, says that over the past 40 years, only 20 refugees out of 3.25 million resettled in the U.S. have been convicted of committing terrorist acts or attempting to do so. Just three Americans have been killed by refugees — all three by Cuban refugees in the 1970s. Americans have a 1 in 3.64 billion chance of being killed by a refugee in a terrorist attack per year, according to the Cato Institute’s risk analysis. But since the U.S. established the resettlement program with the Refugee Act of 1980, there has not been a single lethal terrorist attack by a refugee among the hundreds of thousands resettled in the U.S., says Martin Zogg, executive director of the International Rescue Committee (IRC)’s Los Angeles office based in Glendale. Zogg has been working with persecuted asylum seekers since the early 1990s. IRC is a highly regarded global aid, relief and development nongovernmental organization rated 4 out of 4 by Charity Navigator and A+ by Charity Watch. Currently led by David Miliband, a former British Foreign Secretary, IRC has been responding to the world’s worst humanitarian crises since World War II, helping people flee devastation, oppression, war and religious persecution. The organization was founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, himself a German refugee, who recruited 50 additional American intellectuals including philosopher John Dewey, writer John Dos Passos and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr to join him in helping refugees. IRC’s humanitarian relief operations are now in more than 40 war-torn countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs are in 28 American cities. Here in Los Angeles, about 1,459 refugees were initially resettled in 2016-17 compared to 2,250 for 2014-15, according to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). From 2000 through 2016, the agency says, 34,278 refugees had been initially resettled in L.A. County through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. (There is no way to determine how many refugees who come to L.A. still reside in the county.) Arroyo Monthly talks with Zogg about IRC’s Los Angeles refugee assistance effort: How long have you been working with the International Rescue Committee and specifically, IRC’s L.A. office? I started with IRC in 1992 as a country director in its international humanitarian relief program in Bosnia as the war there began, then worked in international programs for several years. I’ve been the executive director of IRC’s office in Los Angeles for nearly six years. Tell us about the work the International Rescue Committee does with refugees in Los Angeles. IRC is one of just nine agencies authorized by the State Department to resettle refugees in the U.S. In Los Angeles, it’s the largest of those agencies, resettling hundreds of refugees each year. For the past 10 or so years, about 2,500 refugees have resettled here every year. –continued on page 36 12.17 | ARROYO | 35