Biden, who called Trump-era refugee cap ‘immoral,’ was going to leave Trump-era refugee cap in place

“After blowback from allies, White House says President Biden will move to lift Trump-era refugee caps next month,” the Associated Press reported Friday evening.

“While finalizing that determination, the president was urged to take immediate action to reverse the Trump policy that banned refugees from many key regions, to enable flights from those regions to begin within days; today’s order did that. With that done, we expect the president to set a final, increased refugee cap for the remainder of this fiscal year by May 15,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

The statement adds “For the past few weeks, he has been consulting with his advisors to determine what number of refugees could realistically be admitted to the United States between now and October 1. Given the decimated refugee admissions program we inherited, and burdens on the Office of Refugee Resettlement, his initial goal of 62,500 seems unlikely.”

This is nearly as bad as Biden’s initial decision to leave the Trump-era refugee cap in place. Along with confirming he’s a liar, one who would have left in place restrictions he promised to overturn were it not for Democratic opposition, Biden’s mishandling of the refugee crisis also confirms he is as incompetent as he is cowardly. By flip-flopping on his flip-flop to raise the annual cap of admitted refugees, Biden showed he is not only fully prepared to break major campaign promises but that he also has no clear idea of what he is doing. He also showed he is cowed easily by party opinion. Biden managed somehow to do everything wrong in this situation, enraging his allies and emboldening his enemies, and he got exactly nothing in return.

You know, for a guy who has been in politics since the year the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade, Biden is not very good at politics.

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President Joe Biden really is all talk.

The president has reversed course on his pledge to roll back immediately the Trump-era restrictions on the number of refugees admitted annually into the United States. Instead, he will leave in place for the remainder of 2021 the limit of 15,000 set by the previous administration.

It was just last week, on April 8, that White House press secretary Jen Psaki assured reporters the president “remains committed to raising the cap” this year to allow more than 62,500 refugees to enter the U.S. The White House cited this figure specifically in February when it informed Congress of its goals for the fiscal year.

Now, however, CNN reports the White House will allow the same cap the president railed against so frequently and passionately to stay in place this year, lest an immediate increase in the number of admitted refugees contributes to the poor “optics” stemming from the immigration crisis on the southern border. (These are separate issues, by the way — illegal immigration and refugee status are not directly connected with one another. Leave it up to the wonder brains in Washington to make decisions based on conflating the two.)

“President Joe Biden has resisted signing off on raising the Trump-era refugee cap because of political optics,” CNN reported.

The story added, “The President’s hesitation comes as the administration faces heat from Republicans and Democrats for its handling of an influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border.”

This is a hell of a heel turn for a guy who loudly condemned the limits imposed by the Trump White House. Recall how often Biden hammered away at this issue specifically, both before and after the 2020 election.

“The United States has long stood as a beacon of hope for the downtrodden and the oppressed, a leader of resettling refugees in our humanitarian response,” he said on Nov. 12 of last year.

Biden added, “I promise, as president, I will reclaim that proud legacy for our country. The Biden-Harris administration will restore America’s historic role in protecting the vulnerable and defending the rights of refugees everywhere and raising our annual refugee admission target to 125,000.”

As of this writing, a mere 2,050 refugees have been admitted this year into the U.S.

During a 2020 Democratic primary debate, Biden also accused former President Donald Trump of “ruining” the asylum process.

“This country can tolerate a heck of a lot more people,” he said. “And the reason we’re the country we are is we’ve been able to cherry-pick from the best of every culture. Immigrants built this country.”

In June 2020, Biden characterized Trump administration refugee restrictions as “immoral,” adding, “Donald Trump has made clear that he does not believe our country should be a place of refuge.”

“This cannot stand,” he said. “I believe that resettling refugees helps reunite families, enriches the fabric of America, and enhances our standing, influence, and security in the world.”

“I will … establish a minimum admissions number of at least 95,000 refugees annually,” Biden promised. “We all must stand together and recommit to building a more inclusive and welcoming America. That’s how we will restore the soul of our nation.”

Earlier than even that, in 2019, Biden wrote, “My faith teaches me that we should be a nation that once again welcomes the stranger and shows a preferential option for the poor, remembering how so many of us and our ancestors came here in a similar way.”

He added, “It’s not enough to just wish the world were better. It’s our duty to make it so.”

That’s some tough talk coming from Biden. And that’s all it ever was — talk.