John Oliver grew emotional while voting for the first time as a U.S. citizen, and he dragged Trump hard over his silly refusal to concede. It’s no secret that he was all-in for a Joe Biden win, and the Last Week Tonight host previously gave himself 30 seconds to party hard before talking about the work to be done to clean up Trump’s mess. That doesn’t mean that he’s going to let President Biden get away with anything, however, and this week, he let loose on #46 for dropping the ball on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and specifically, Biden’s seemingly forgotten vow to roll back the cap-based damage done by Trump.
That hasn’t happened yet, although Biden’s website is still promising to “undo the damage” done by Trump in this department. As Oliver notes, Trump “slashed the admissions low down to a historic annual low of 15,000,” and some of that wizardry was down to Stephen Miller, who was the architect of many of Trump’s anti-Muslim policies. Biden vowed (in February) to raise the annual cap on refugee admissions to 62,500 refugees (who have been displaced by war and who are fleeing persecution), but has he actually followed through on helping refugees resettle?
Nope. Biden hasn’t signed the necessary presidential determination, and there appears to be no reason why the president hasn’t done a very simple thing, as Oliver points out:
“He just needs to sign a piece of paper. And for a guy who clearly wanted to be the person who ‘restored the soul of America’ (a phrase he’s uttered many times), it is past time for him to look deep into his own, pick up a f*cking pen and do the right thing.”
And Oliver didn’t limit his disgust to the president himself. He’s got a little gem for White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who has had zero answers for Biden’s non-action on refugees:
“Props to Jen Psaki there, only a few months into the job and she’s already waiving away concerns about stranded refugees with the ease of a Spirit Airlines gate agent letting you know your flight’s delayed.”
On the subject of flights, Oliver pointed out how March saw cancellations of flights for at least 700 refugees who were supposed to be en route to the United States. The host added that the current batch of refugees who are already working on their resettlement process “are are still beholden to Trump’s low admission ceiling and bullsh*t racist rules.” He detailed how one pregnant refugee had her flight indefinitely delayed, which meant that she ended up giving birth before leaving for the U.S., and now, she must redo her own process, and her baby will also (ridiculously) have a process of its own to complete. It’s not a great look, and Oliver really let Biden have it.
