Posted on November 28th, 2022.

President Joe Biden has signed a presidential determination keeping the nation’s refugee admissions cap at 125,000 for the next fiscal year, the State Department announced on Tuesday. Calling the figure an “ambitious target,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the “world is now facing unprecedented levels of forced displacement,” and that “the United States continues to lead in international humanitarian response,” a statement read.

Under the 2023 fiscal year plans, the biggest chunk of slots, 40,000, will be set aside for African refugees, “followed by 35,000 from South Asia and 15,000 each from East Asia, Europe and Latin America,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The president last year initially raised the refugee cap to 125,000 from a historic low of 15,000 set by the previous administration (specifically, noted white supremacist Stephen Miller). But fewer than 20,000 refugees were actually admitted by the Biden administration “as it grappled with a decimated system inherited from its predecessor,” refugee resettlement agency Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service (LIRS) noted.

“This must be the year that the administration sees its refugee commitments to fruition,” LIRS said. “It has been particularly helpful in resourcing domestic resettlement agencies to hire necessary staff and reopen sites shuttered under the Trump administration.” LIRS said that if the refugee resettlement program “is to remain relevant amid an unprecedented global displacement crisis … it must ramp up and streamline overseas processing of refugee applications.”

As noted by the AP, the roughly 20,000 admissions under the refugee program do not include the more than 180,000 refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan admitted to the U.S. since last year, following humanitarian crises in those countries. Many of these refugees have been admitted through the humanitarian parole process. More than 50,000 of the Ukrainians now in the U.S. arrived through an immensely successful private sponsorship program implemented by the administration. These applications have been concentrated in five states, including New York, Illinois, and California. Meanwhile, advocates have been pressing for permanent relief for tens of thousands of these Afghan allies.

“Despite the previous administration’s attempts to dismantle resettlement, President Biden, Congress, nonprofit agencies, corporate partners, and ordinary Americans from across the country have demonstrated that it is possible—with the proper support and adequate resources—to build out significant pathways of welcome,” Refugee Council USA Executive Director John Slocum said.

Refugee Council USA and LIRS had been among the dozens of organizations calling on the Biden administration to go higher than 125,000 admissions in the upcoming fiscal year, and set a goal of 200,000 refugees, citing the pressing humanitarian need around the world as well as the low admission rate for the current fiscal year. The Sept. 8 letter to the Biden administration stated that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees projects that 2 million refugees will be in need of resettlement in 2023.

“Our nation’s reputation as the world’s beacon of hope demands a system that can respond efficiently and consistently to forced displacement, whether that be Afghan interpreters left behind, Venezuelan families fleeing communist authoritarianism, dissidents from Hong Kong defending democracy, or religious minorities like Rohingya & Uyghur Muslims persecuted solely for their faith,” LIRS continued. “With so many lives on the line, the admin must take urgent action to restore our global humanitarian leadership in refugee resettlement.”

“The US economy and the country as a whole benefits enormously from the presence of these newcomers,” Slocum continued. While providing refuge to vulnerable people is a moral imperative, it’s also a fact that it’s hugely beneficial to our nation, filling unfilled jobs amid the labor shortage. “Our elected officials must rebuild and reinvest in this essential program to successfully meet the 125,000 admissions goal,” Slocum said. “We know it is possible.”

Text and image source: Daily Kos.