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The Donald Trump administration has announced plans to allow just 15,000 refugees to relocate to the United States in fiscal year 2021 that began Thursday, setting another record low in the history of the modern refugee program.
The US State Department said the ceiling reflects the Trump administration’s priority of the “safety and well-being of Americans, especially in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.”
Trump, who is seeking re-election on November 3, has cut refugee admissions every year since he took office in 2017.
Critics have said that the United States under Trump has abandoned its former role as a safe haven for persecuted people and that cutting refugee admissions undermines other foreign policy goals.
The refugee cap was lowered to 18,000 in fiscal year 2020 that ended Wednesday, and only 11,814 refugees were resettled, according to the latest government figures, as increased investigation by the Trump administration and the coronavirus pandemic arrivals slowed.
Presidents of the United States typically set annual refugee levels around October 1 at the beginning of each fiscal year. Under US law, the president must consult with Congress before determining the annual number of refugees he plans to accept, but the determination is ultimately made by the White House.
The 2021 plan establishes specific allocations, which include 5,000 spaces for refugees who suffered or fear persecution for religious reasons, 4,000 spaces for refugees from Iraq who helped the United States and 1,000 spaces for refugees from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. That leaves 5,000 for everyone else.
Despite 4,000 places being allocated for Iraqis affiliated with the United States during fiscal year 2020, only 123 had been resettled as of September 25, according to government figures.
A law called the Refugee Act of 1980 created America’s modern refugee resettlement program. The cap set for refugees over the next four decades has never been as low as planned for 2021. Before Barack Obama left office, he set the cap for fiscal year 2017 at 110,000 refugees, but Trump cut it in half. shortly after becoming president. .
Joe Biden has vowed to increase refugee admissions to 125,000 a year if he defeats Trump. Advocates have said it could take years for the refugee program to recover after the Trump-era cuts.
Tens of thousands of refugees are in the pipeline for arrival in the United States, many of them with applications well advanced in the approval and investigation process.
Krish Vignarajah, president of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which helps resettle newly arrived refugees, wrote on Twitter that the Trump administration cuts represent “a total abdication of our moral duty and all that we stand for as a nation.”
