Norway’s Refugee Council criticizes Trump on immigration

COPENHAGEN – A senior official with the Norwegian Refugee Council is criticizing the Trump administration’s push to restrict refugee resettlements and immigration, calling that “a shameful milestone in America’s history.”

Joel Charny, head of the U.S. office of Norway’s humanitarian organization, says plans to “abandon some of the world’s most vulnerable people … is an affront to American values.”

Charny said Friday “abandoning vulnerable refugees is not the America we know and does not reflect its core values.”

While the Oslo-based humanitarian group helps people forced to flee, its office in Washington works at raising money for overseas programs and providing humanitarian policy advice to U.S. lawmakers.

The Washington branch receives financial support from the USAID’s Office and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.