Joe Biden raises Trump refugee cap after outcry
President Joe Biden announced Mon that he's raising the total annual refugee admissions limit to 62,500, a good decision that shows up weeks after facing fierce backlash above keeping the number collection by the Trump administration and showing up to renege on a pledge to lift the ceiling.
The cap on the amount of refugees who could be admitted in to the U.S. happens to be at 15,000 for fiscal 2021, a record-low number set by previous President Donald Trump that Democratic lawmakers and refugee advocates vigorously pushed for the Biden administration to drastically boost.Biden, who has come under immense pressure above his immigration agenda from Republicans plus some Democrats alike, likewise reiterated his objective of additional raising the limit to 125,000 refugees in his primary fiscal year as president, though he acknowledged on the assertion that it "will still be hard to hit."
"The sad real truth is that we will not achieve 62,500 admissions this season. We are working quickly to undo the destruction of the last four years. It will take a while, but that work is already underway," Biden explained in a statement on Mon afternoon. "We have reopened the program to new refugees. And by changing the regional allocations previous month, we've already increased the amount of refugees all set for departure to america," he added.
In mid-April, Biden issued a presidential perseverance that the refugee cap would remain at 15,000. But hours following the uproar on that announcement, the White House released a statement that the president would raise the ceiling to 62,500 by May 15.When pressed simply by reporters about keeping the Trump-era cap and the apparent reversal, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said that the directive announced in April induced confusion and that Biden always planned to increase it the following month.
The order in April do, however, change the regional allocations set by the Trump administration and allows more refugees to be relocated to the U.S. from Africa, Central America and the center East. It also ended restrictions on refugees via Somalia, Syria and Yemen. In Biden's Monday declaration, the White House argued that as a result of the reallocations from previous month.
"we've already increased the quantity of refugees all set for departure to america."
