After criticism, Biden says he wants to raise the U.S. ceiling on footage of refugees
U.S. President Joe Biden said Saturday he will raise the ceiling for the number of refugees admitted to the United States this year, a day after he criticized Democratic lawmakers for agreeing to keep the historically low figure in place.
Biden signed an order on Friday to extend a ceiling of 15,000 refugee admissions issued by his predecessor Donald Trump until the end of September. During the signing of the order, Biden made a plan, announced in February, to increase the ceiling to 62,500.
Biden said in Delaware on Saturday that he would go beyond the 15,000 limits. “We want to increase the number. The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended at the border with young people. We could not do two things at once, so now we want to raise the number,” he said.
When Biden was criticized by lawmakers and refugee advocacy groups, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday that the president planned to “set a final, increased refugee ceiling for the remainder of this fiscal year before May 15.”
Biden’s order to limit admissions to 15,000 was a blow to advocacy groups that wanted the Democratic president to move quickly to reverse Republican Trump’s refugee policy, which had partially set the stage as a way to limit immigration.
The program for the admission of refugees differs from the asylum system for immigrants. Refugees must be examined while still abroad and cleared of entry into the United States, unlike migrants who arrive at a U.S. border and then apply for asylum.
Since October, about 2,000 people have been admitted to the program, according to the White House.
Psaki said on Friday that Biden’s “initial target of 62,500 seems unlikely given the decimated refugee admission program we inherited.”
Republicans have blamed Biden for the situation at the border and owe his move to reversing other Trump-era tough immigration policies.
Biden joined with the aim of setting a new course for U.S. immigration policy, including a more compassionate approach. But his initial decision to leave the caps ran counter to his commitment to raise the refugee ceiling during the 2020 election campaign.
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