The White House reversed plans not to raise the refugee cap after being met by strong criticism from Democrats and vowed to roll out the new number next month.
The Biden administration expanded in an emergency determination made earlier Friday which countries it will accept refugees from but kept former President Donald Trump’s 15,000-person cap for fiscal 2021 after President Joe Biden vowed in February that he would admit 65,000 by the end of the fiscal year in September.
Later Friday afternoon, though, after harsh criticism from liberal lawmakers and immigration advocates, the administration changed course.
“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.
“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,” Psaki said. “Given the decimated refugee admissions program we inherited, and burdens on the Office of Refugee Resettlement, his initial goal of 62,500 seems unlikely.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump’s 2021 refugee admissions cap was the lowest rate in 40 years.
