The upper limit for the admission of particularly vulnerable refugees in the course of resettlement is to be increased from the current 62,500 to 125,000 people, as the US State Department announced on Wednesday. The ministry said there was a greater need for so-called resettlement because of “humanitarian crises around the world”. “A robust refugee admission program is vital to US foreign policy interests and national security goals, and it reflects fundamental American values,” the State Department said. The US has a long tradition as a country that welcomes immigrants and refugees.
The upper limit of 125,000 refugees applies for the budget year 2022, which starts next October 1st. The resettlement program is also intended to partially take in Afghan local workers who fled the country after the US troops withdrew and the radical Islamic Taliban came to power.
Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump had continuously reduced the number of refugees allowed into the country in the course of resettlement, to a record low of 15,000 in his last year in office. Under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, more than 100,000 refugees were admitted each year.
In the 2020 election campaign, Biden promised to significantly increase the number again. After taking office, however, he put the corresponding plans on hold for the time being: Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declared in mid-April that the admission program would have to be “rebuilt” after the Trump years. Therefore, the upper limit of 15,000 refugees will remain in place until further notice.
The announcement caused indignation among Biden’s Democrats and aid organizations. Biden finally announced at the beginning of May that the upper limit would be raised to 62,500 refugees in the current year and announced an upper limit of 125,000 refugees for 2022.
In contrast to Trump, Biden has announced a more humane refugee and migration policy. However, the Democrat comes under pressure again and again from the situation on the US border with Mexico, through which many people from South and Central America want to enter the US.
Most recently, the situation in the Texas border town of Del Rio, where more than 10,000 refugees, mostly from Haiti, are waiting under a bridge, made headlines. The Biden government has announced that it will increase the number of deportation flights.
