The United States has pulled out of a worldwide pact on immigration reform.
Hours before the United Nations was due to hold a talk on migration trends and refugees in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, America declared its intention to withdraw. U.S. ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, told the organization’s secretary general that Donald Trump isn’t willing to uphold his end of the bargain.
The Guardian reports that, back in 2016, 193 members of the United Nations adopted a non-binding political declaration. The compact’s intent was, ostensibly, encouraging countries to work one another in resettling refugees and managing the flow of migrants globally.
Known as the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, signees pledged to help resettle refugees and assist them in obtaining educations and finding jobs.
Not shockingly, the Trump administration took issue with the declaration’s mission, claiming it ran contrary to the White House’s philosophies of governance and human rights management. Haley attempted to describe the president’s rationale in a statement.
“Today, the US Mission to the United Nations informed the UN Secretary-General that the United States is ending its participating in the Global Compact on Migration,” she said.
“The New York Declaration contains numerous provisions that are inconsistent with US immigration and refugee policies and the Trump administration’s immigration principles.
As a result, President Trump determined that the United States would end its participation in the Compact process that aims to reach international consensus at the UN in 2018,” read an Americans statement on the withdrawal.
Complementing Donald Trump’s “America First” rhetoric, Haley claimed the United States would continue to exhibit “generosity” in its treatment of migrants and refugees worldwide.
“America is proud of our immigrant heritage and our long-standing moral leadership in providing support to migrant and refugee population across the globe,” said Haley.
Nevertheless, Haley said that “our decisions on immigration policies must always be made by Americans and Americans alone. We will decide how best to control our borders and who will be allowed to enter our country”
A series of executive orders signed into effect by Donald Trump with the aim of curtailing refugee entries to the United States garnered global criticism throughout 2017. Designed to curb terror, the orders restricted visas issuances and entry to the citizens of several Muslim-majority countries.
The orders were derided as a blanket-ban on Muslim migrants, inside the United States and internationally. Litigation and appeals brought the controversy to the Supreme Court, which allowed certain sections of the last executive order to take effect, while avoiding any final decision.
The American withdrawal isn’t the first time since Trump’s inauguration that America has bypassed United Nations commitments. Earlier in the year, President Trump announced that the United States would vacate its pledge to participate in the Paris Accord on global warming.
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