The governor of Texas officially sent a letter to the U.S. State Department saying he will no longer accept refugees in 2020, making him the first governor to withdraw from the refugee resettlement program. (David McNew/Getty Images)
On Thursday (Feb. 4), President Joe Biden vowed to dramatically increase the maximum number of refugees the U.S. can accept, even beyond the number allowed into the country in the final year of the Obama administration.
In response, Biden said at the State Department in Washington, DC: “Today, I approved an executive order to begin restoring our refugee admissions program to meet the unprecedented global demand for refugee resettlement. But it will take Time to revive those (efforts) that have been severely disrupted.”
According to the information, at the beginning of 2017, the cap on refugee admissions in the U.S. was 110,000. in October 2020, former President Donald Trump (Trump) lowered that limit to 15,000, citing the ongoing outbreak of the Chinese Communist virus (Neocoronavirus).
Biden said he would raise the refugee cap to 125,000 for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Biden instructed the State Department to consult with Congress “to make the first payment of appropriations for this commitment as soon as possible.”
For now, Democrats have control of both houses of Congress, making it possible for Biden to get the refugee cap spike he wants. If successful, he would fulfill his campaign promise.
The Biden team’s website says in response, “Biden believes in the core values on which we were founded and will prioritize reopening the admission of refugees, as we have historically done under Democratic and Republican administrations. He will set a cap on global refugee admissions at 125,000 per year and seek to raise that cap over time to a level commensurate with our responsibilities, our values and unprecedented global needs.”
On Thursday, the United Nations applauded Biden’s move.
Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said in a statement, “President Biden’s actions today will save lives. It’s that simple.” “It also shows that strength comes from compassion. It shows that America will do its part, as it always has, to help the world’s most vulnerable people, including by welcoming them to the United States.”
The agency said last month that only 22,770 refugees in desperate need of resettlement were resettled through the agency last year. That’s the lowest number in nearly two decades.
Fearing that refugees are not being properly vetted and having to focus on health crises, countries around the world are limiting their admissions during the struggle with the Epidemic.
Previously, the Trump Administration announced in a letter to Congress that it had lowered the cap on the number of refugees it would accept last year, saying it “reflects the administration’s continued commitment to prioritizing the safety and well-being of Americans, particularly in light of the ongoing COVID-19 (Chinese Communist Virus) outbreak.”
The Trump administration said at the time that “it is prioritizing those already in the United States seeking humanitarian protection, thereby addressing the large backlog of asylum cases – which currently stands at more than 1.1 million people. This includes refugees who have been identified for resettlement in the United States. Their resettlement in the U.S. has been delayed due to the Communist virus epidemic.
According to a report released last year by the U.N. refugee agency, the U.S. resettled 55 percent of all refugees in the past decade. Canada became the largest refugee-receiving country in 2019.
The number of refugees actually entering the U.S. reached a recent peak of nearly 85,000 in 2016, according to the U.S. State Department. Since then, the number has declined each year, standing at 11,814 in fiscal year 2020.
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