Biden Doubles Refugee Admission Cap for Next Year

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] U.S. President Joe Biden has doubled the refugee admission cap for fiscal year 2022 (October 1, 2021 ? September 30, 2022) to 125,000, up from this year.

On the 8th (local time), President Biden delivered a memorandum to the State Department adjusting the number of refugees the U.S. can admit due to humanitarian concerns or other reasons related to national interest.

By region, Africa has the largest allocation with 40,000 refugees, followed by the Middle East and South Asia with 35,000, East Asia and Latin America each with 15,000, Europe and Central Asia combined with 10,000, and an additional 10,000 as a reserve.

President Biden, who took office in January this year, advocated pro-immigration and pro-refugee policies but faced controversy during implementation.

In February, Biden announced plans to raise the refugee cap for fiscal year 2021 to 62,500, but the actual announcement in April set it at only 15,000.

This was the same level as the cap set by former President Donald Trump, who pursued a strong anti-immigration policy, leading to strong opposition even within Biden’s own Democratic Party.

As a result, President Biden went through difficulties in May to raise the cap to the originally announced 62,500.

However, only 11,411 refugees were resettled in the U.S. during fiscal year 2021, which is even lower than the Trump administration’s lowest figure of 11,814.

The Biden administration attributes the low refugee resettlement this year to the impact of Trump administration policies.

There are doubts about whether the 125,000 cap set for next year will be met.

The political news outlet The Hill reported, "There seems to be internal skepticism about the administration’s ability to meet this goal," adding that "the State Department has informed Congress it will fund 65,000 refugees."

The White House has stated it may increase funding depending on progress.