The Trump administration earlier this week said it intends to allow only 15,000 refugees to resettle in the United States in the 2021 fiscal year, “setting another record low in the history of the modern refugee program,” Reuters reported on Oct. 1.
The refugee cap was reduced to 18,000 last year, “but only roughly half that many refugees were let in as increased vetting and the coronavirus have slowed arrivals,” the news service noted.
The Trump administration “said it would cut its already rock-bottom refugee admissions still deeper into record territory for the upcoming year, as President Trump returned to his anti-immigrant themes in the closing month of his re-election campaign,” the New York Times reported.
Trump cut the cap to 50,000 in 2017 and then to 45,000 in 2018, 30,000 in 2019 and 18,000 last year, notes Claire Hansen in U.S. News and World Report.
Refugee groups decry proposal
A number of groups that place refugees were quick to criticize the proposal.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) “reacts with deep concern to the Trump administration’s report to Congress recommending a refugee admissions goal of 15,000 for fiscal year 2021, a further reduction from the all-time low of 18,000 set in the previous year, in the face of growing global need,” the IRC said in a statement.
“It is a sad moment when our country shows such weakness when it should be leading,” said HIAS President and CEO Mark Hetfield said. “The administration’s decision to set a record low number of refugees at a time of record high needs — and without even consulting with Congress, as required by law — shows how far we have fallen. Not only will refugees who have fled violence and persecution suffer, but so will our country, as refugees who become new Americans have contributed so much to this country.”
Biden proposes increase in refugee admissions
Joe Biden, the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party, has committed to restoring the annual cap on refugees in the U.S. to 125,000 people.
The Immigration and Refugee News Digest 