Act! for America - Is Obama Opening the Floodgates for Hamas? A Clarification

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Is Obama Opening the Floodgates for Hamas? A Clarification

Is Obama Opening the Floodgates for Hamas?
A Clarification

Yesterday we emailed you information regarding President Obama’s presidentialmemorandum authorizing $20.3 million in funds to help Palestinians under theMigration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962. In that email we raised thequestion as to whether or not some of these Palestinians could end up“migrating” to the United States.

There have been some postings on the web that are maintaining that Obama’saction will lead to a mass immigration of Palestinians into the U.S. Oneposting we know of asserts that this is in error because the fund in questionis for “migrating” not “immigrating.”

Here’s an excerpt from thatpost:

“Just to be sure, I talked to an official at the StateDepartment. He said the fund in question, known as ERMA (the U.S. EmergencyRefugee and Migration Assistance fund), is run out of the White House. That is,the president has discretion to use it for what he determines are emergencies. Itis for providing funds for people in place — that is, where they are inneed in other countries, not here. He pointed out that “migration” is not thesame as “immigration.” It means people moving around, that’s all.”

Based on what we can ascertain, it does appear thatwhat the official at the State Department is saying is correct about the intentof the program, and that no Palestinians will end up “migrating” to the U.S. asa result. But given the history of the State Department, you’ll understand ifwe’re a bit skeptical of an explanation that comes from a State Departmentofficial. We hope what the State Department official said proves to be true,but only time will tell if in fact any Palestinians are somehow able to usethis program as a springboard to immigrate to the United States.

On a Palestinian-related issue, this week we delivered to UNSecretary-General Bank Ki-moon our petition calling for an investigation ofHamas’ treatment of children in Gaza. We want to thank each of the nearly 9,000people who signed the petition.