Declaring his intention to restore America’s “moral leadership”, President Joe Biden announced that he is raising the limit on the number of refugees in the country to 125,000 in the fiscal year beginning this fall.
According to the White House, Biden also plans to work with Congress to overturn the cap for this fiscal year, set at just 15,000 by his predecessor.
But reaching a higher target immediately would be difficult, even without a pandemic. During Trump’s years, more than a third of U.S. resettlement offices were closed, with their employees laid off, the Associated Press reported – capacity that will need to be restored before admissions can be increased.
The president acknowledged this in a speech at the US State Department on Thursday. “It will take time to rebuild what has been so damaged, but that is exactly what we are going to do,” said Biden. Consequently, “I am instructing the State Department to consult with Congress on how to enter into this commitment as soon as possible.”
While it is a huge increase – and the biggest limit since 1993 – the new ceiling of 125,000 refugees is still far below the number the United States accepted years ago. In 1980, the US resettled more than 207,000 people fleeing violence, poverty and oppression; in fiscal 2020, that number dropped to less than 12,000.
In President Barack Obama’s last year in office, the United States accepted just under 85,000 refugees.
Training to resettle refugees is not only necessary within the government itself. There are nine national agencies that work with the State Department to find homes for the displaced; they have also faced cutbacks in staff due to the decreased need for their services.
“Rebuilding our nation’s significantly dismantled refugee resettlement system will require a lot of effort and defense,” said Tim Breene, CEO of the Christian relief group World Relief, in a statement. He asked the Biden government not to wait before accepting more refugees, asking the president to raise the current year’s maximum admissions limit and eliminate “other policies that restrict access to asylum”.
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