America Should Open the Door for Hong Kong

For about five months now, Hong Kong citizens have been protesting against Beijing's increasingly authoritarian control over their semi-autonomous city. Despite the intensity of their struggle, it seems increasingly likely that eventually, Beijing will use whatever means necessary-including the military-to gain total control of Hong Kong.

"Anyone attempting to split China in any part of the country will end in crushed bodies and shattered bones." Such are the words of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Though directed at Tibetians, he was sending a message to Hong Kong protestors.

If Beijing is bent on a full-scale crackdown, Washington can't stop it-but that doesn't mean America has no options to respond. The United States can provide Hong Kongers with a way to escape by welcoming asylum-seekers with open arms.

Unfortunately, President Donald Trump seems to disagree. He recently decided to slash the number of refugees the U.S. accepts to 18,000 in the 2020 fiscal year, which is an outrageously low number in a world full of people eager to stay alive. After all, when the refugee resettlement program was created in 1980, the cap was set at 232,000 refugees.