Biden’s Commitment to Refugees in Question After Flip-Flopping on Admissions Cap

All through his presidential marketing campaign and after the election, Joe Biden repeatedly condemned President Trump’s resolution to slash the U.S. refugee admissions degree to its lowest in historical past. He  promised to boost the variety of refugees admitted to 125,000 a yr.

However on April 16, President Biden as an alternative signed a brand new refugee dedication preserving in place Trump’s 15,000 cap on refugees for the remainder of the fiscal yr, the bottom degree within the historical past of the U.S. refugee resettlement program. This resolution was the primary main promise on immigration that Biden appeared to interrupt.

Biden did, nonetheless, raise a number of discriminatory restrictions on the refugee program that had blocked many refugees from the Center East and Africa. And after refugee teams and members of Congress condemned the administration’s resolution, the White House seemingly walked back its original announcement, saying that “We anticipate the President to set a ultimate, elevated refugee cap for the rest of this fiscal yr by Could 15.”

The U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program, established a long time in the past, requires the president to signal a “Presidential Willpower” every year setting the variety of refugees that will likely be resettled. In President Obama’s final time period, that degree was set at 110,000 for fiscal yr 2017. Trump lowered the extent to 50,000 instantly on taking workplace, then lower the extent every year after that. It plummeted to a historic low of 15,000 for fiscal yr 2021, which runs from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. In whole, simply 2,050 refugees have been resettled by means of the primary half of the fiscal yr.

After taking workplace, President Biden on February 4 signed an govt order calling on the federal government to rebuild the refugee resettlement program that Trump devastated. On February 12, his administration formally reported to Congress that it might increase the refugee cap to 62,500 for the remainder of fiscal yr 2021. The State Division declared that “a revised goal of 62,500 [refugees] is proposed and is justified by grave humanitarian issues and is within the nationwide curiosity.”

However regardless of this declaration, the Biden administration didn’t signal a brand new presidential dedication to boost the cap. On account of the delay, the State Division was compelled to cancel lots of of flights for brand spanking new refugees which had been booked in anticipation of Biden signing the brand new dedication.

After two months handed with out a new dedication, refugee resettlement organizations elevated their strain on the Biden administration. The organizations mentioned that they had been prepared and in a position to take extra refugees. When asked last week, Press Secretary Jen Psaki insisted that Biden would nonetheless increase the refugee cap.

When Biden signed the brand new dedication on Friday, he didn’t increase the cap from the file low degree set by Trump. White Home Nationwide Safety Advisor Jake Sullivan claimed on Twitter that the choice was motivated by a must “rebuild” the refugee resettlement program earlier than elevating the cap.

Nonetheless, nameless sources advised reporters the true cause that Biden didn’t improve the cap was political, due to the continuing state of affairs on the border and fears that Individuals and the GOP would falsely conflate the 2 points.

One other nameless official mentioned that Biden didn’t wish to seem “delicate” on refugees given the present rise in asylum seekers on the border. That is although the asylum and refugee packages are completely separate and refugees are vetted for years earlier than being allowed to enter.

As Biden himself has repeatedly acknowledged previously, the refugee resettlement program enjoys huge bipartisan help and helps this nation dwell as much as its values. Whereas the administration stays publicly dedicated to rebuilding this system, right now’s damaged promise makes that purpose tougher.

FILED UNDER: Biden-Harris Administration, U.S. Refugee Admissions Program