U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Friday (April 16) calling for faster refugee admissions, but still keeping FY 2021 refugee admissions at the historically low Trump-era level of 15,000.
The 15,000 limit is far below the 62,500 proposed to Congress by the Biden administration earlier this year.
The State Department reported to Congress in February recommending an increase in refugee admissions to 62,500 for fiscal year 2021. In a foreign policy speech at the State Department in February, Biden also publicly pledged that he would raise refugee admissions to 125,000 in the next fiscal year, which begins in October.
It is unclear whether the Biden administration will raise the cap on refugee admissions later this year.
In addition, the executive order signed by Biden on Friday rescinds Trump’s policy of restricting refugee admissions from certain regions and will reintroduce refugees from parts of the Middle East as well as Africa.
The Biden administration will revert to the refugee system that was in place until 2019, which allocated refugee slots by region.
In response to Biden’s decision, far-left Democratic Rep. IIhan Omar (D-CA), a former Somali refugee, sent a letter to Biden earlier Friday calling on the president to officially raise the refugee cap to 62,500.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, a Democrat, is also unhappy with Biden’s maintenance of Trump’s refugee quota. He sent a letter to Biden on Friday warning him of the implications of not raising the refugee cap.
He said Biden’s current approach not only hinders the number of refugees allowed into the U.S., but also prevents the State Department from admitting refugees from specific regions already waiting in the system that have been blocked by the Trump administration.
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