LIRS Calls on President Biden to Issue Revised Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions

Washington D.C. – As we speak, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) calls upon President Biden to formally concern its revised presidential willpower on refugee admissions for Fiscal Yr 2021. The Biden administration had beforehand previewed plans to boost the admissions ceiling from the record-low 15,000 set by former President Trump to 62,500.

The shortage of a revised presidential willpower has resulted within the cancellation of at the least 700 refugees’ resettlement flights that have been booked by the State Division in anticipation of recent refugee coverage. The administration fulfilled its authorized obligation to seek the advice of with Congress as of February 12, 2021, however has but to take official motion in issuing a revised refugee admissions ceiling and categorical allocations.

The next is an announcement by Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the nation’s largest faith-based nonprofit devoted solely to serving susceptible immigrant communities and one in all simply 9 refugee resettlement businesses within the U.S.:

“For lots of of households, the enjoyment of a tearful airport reunion should wait till a brand new presidential willpower modifies what number of and which classes of refugees will be resettled within the U.S. Refugees we have been able to welcome have, in some instances, offered all of their belongings and relinquished their lodging in camps, solely to seek out themselves stranded with no resettlement in sight.

The administration’s rhetoric and preliminary govt motion despatched an encouraging message to the world, elevating hope that the U.S. would expeditiously reclaim its status as a bastion of refuge. That message has sadly been muddled, and that hope dashed by the info on the bottom to date. Former President Trump could also be out of the Oval Workplace, however in the intervening time, his restrictive coverage prevails. We strongly encourage President Biden to take this govt motion; in any other case his formidable plan, as laudable as it’s, stays a proposal – not coverage.

With practically 80 million displaced worldwide, 1.4 million of whom are in pressing want of resettlement in response to the UNHCR, that is no time to delay the lifesaving work of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program – an traditionally bipartisan initiative that has welcomed roughly 3.5 million refugees to the U.S. since its inception in 1980.

As we speak, precisely 41 years after President Carter signed the Refugee Act – laws co-sponsored by then-Senator Biden – we name upon the administration to concern its revised presidential willpower on refugee admissions. For the sake of 1000’s of kids and households whose lives grasp within the stability, there is no such thing as a time to attend.”