No action from Donald Trump to deport Syrian refugees, despite campaign promise

President Donald Trump as a White House candidate said he was putting Syrian refugees on notice that, "if I win, they're going back." Trump has not kept this promise.

PolitiFact did not find any evidence that Trump is actively pursuing this pledge. Neither the White House nor Department of Homeland Security responded to queries on whether Trump planned to advance this campaign promise.

Attempts to fulfill the promise likely would have faced legal and logistical challenges. People admitted under a refugee status — from Syria or elsewhere — are not in the country illegally upon arrival. Refugees must also apply for a green card one year after coming to the United States. A green card gives them lawful permanent residence.

If a refugee commits a crime then he or she might be placed in removal proceedings, if the crime warrants it. But that's different from mass deportations of Syrian refugees.

There haven't been efforts to round-up Syrian refugees in order to deport them, said Betsy Fisher, policy director for the International Refugee Assistance Project at the Urban Justice Center, which represents refugees in immigration proceedings.

"People in legal status cannot be mass deported," Fisher said.

There are also legal protections against sending people back to places where they fear persecution, Fisher said, adding that by virtue of being admitted into the United States as refugees, the United States has determined they have a well-founded fear.

Since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, it's estimated that about half a million people have been killed, more than 5.6 million people have sought refuge in other countries and around 6.6 million are internally displaced.

"While most Syrian refugees intend to return home, even in the best-case scenario, it will take several years for necessary conditions to be in place that would allow the majority to return in safety and dignity," said a February 2018 report from the United Nations' refugee agency.

The UN said it would eventually consider supporting government-organized repatriations of Syrians if certain protection thresholds were met. Among those requirements: the conclusion of a formal agreement with the Syrian government, host countries, and other actors as required, and ensuring that every individual's decision to return is "informed and genuinely voluntary, without any coercion."

Fisher of the International Refugee Assistance Project said she was unaware of a repatriation agreement between the United States and Syria.

Trump promised to remove Syrian refugees from the United States. That promise faces a major challenge: Syrian refugees are not in the country illegally. We've seen no action from the Trump administration to fulfill this promise. We rate it Promise Broken.