Another 20,000 Reasons to Like Dubya

The LAT reports:

WASHINGTON — After hearing graphic stories of suffering directly from persecuted young people who fled to the United States, President Bush intervened personally to sharply increase the number of refugees admitted to the country — undoing the severe limits placed on such admissions for security reasons after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The move to restore the world's largest refugee assistance program, and the president's role in it, has gone largely unnoticed amid recent squabbles in the Republican Party over related questions of post-Sept. 11 immigration and asylum policies.

There were lots of good political reasons for Dubya to cave to the demands of the anti-immigration wing of the Republican Party, but he didn't. Compassion over-ruled political expediency.

The White House involvement over the last several months helped overcome security concerns, refugee advocates say. And they point to an encounter the president had with two refugees in June — arranged by the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives — as a moment that motivated the president to apply pressure where it was needed."

Those meetings jump-started a serious government effort to increase admissions last year," said Sarah Petrin, government liaison for a leading refugee advocacy organization, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

I can't help it; I like the guy.