On Friday, the White House said that President Joe Biden is likely to ramp up the refugee cap for 2021; just hours later, President approved a directive that kept it at Trump-made levels and turned into rage from congressional Democrats.
In an afternoon statement, Jen Psaki (the White House Press Secretary) said that Joe Biden’s order today has been the topic of some confusion.
Donald Trump, former American President, reduced the refugee cap for the fiscal year 2021 to fifteen thousand, President Biden had promised to increase both during his presidential campaign and first day in office.
President had vowed to raise the refugee cap to 125,000 for the incoming FY, which will start from October. Joe Biden also explained that he would operate with Congress to create a down payment on the number. At the same time, Antony Blinken (Secretary of State) suggested to Congress lifting the refugee cap to 62,000 for the current FY.
On Friday, the Biden administration announced that President was approving a presidential emergency determination to set the refugee cap at fifteen-thousand while altering the regional allocation of who is brought in, permitting more slots from Central America, the Middle East, and Africa, and lifting bans from Syria, Somalia, and Yemen. Moreover, it took quick and global criticism from immigrant activist groups and left-wing Democrats.
Source: Web
The Biden administration’s target is unacceptable
Senator Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said that the current administration refugee admissions aim is unacceptable. He continued that these refugees can wait years to take their opportunity and pass through a lengthy vetting procedure. Durbin further described that 35,000 are ready and facing the highest refugee disaster in their time there is no reason to bound the number to fifteen thousand.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that utterly and wholly unacceptable, and President Biden vowed to welcome immigrants and those who voted for Biden based on that promise. She continued upholding the racist and xenophobic policies of the Trump-era, including the historically low and Plummeted refugee cap, which is flat out wrong.
Completely and utterly unacceptable. Biden promised to welcome immigrants, and people voted for him based on that promise.
Upholding the xenophobic and racist policies of the Trump admin, incl the historically low + plummeted refugee cap, is flat out wrong.
Keep your promise. https://t.co/A82xYf1XpR
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) April 16, 2021
In the statement demonstrating that the figure could surge more than fifteen thousand, Jen Psaki said that President Joe Biden had been contacting advisors to find out what number of refugees could realistically be allowed to the U.S. between now and 1st October.
