Psaki Says Biden Will Announce ‘Final, Increased Refugee Cap’ Next Month After Widespread Outcry

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Biden administration received serious criticism Friday, including from many prominent Democrats, over President Joe Biden’s reversal on refugee admissions and keeping the low cap set by the Trump administration.

Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Sen. Dick Durbin, and Sen. Bob Menendez decried the White House move as “shameful” and a broken promise.

The Biden White House is now trying to do some cleanup, with a statement Friday afternoon by press secretary Jen Psaki saying, “The president’s directive today has been the subject of some confusion.”

Psaki’s statement says that Biden will “set a final, increased refugee cap for the remainder of this fiscal year by May 15.”

You can read the full statement below:

The President’s directive today has been the subject of some confusion. Last week, he sent to Congress his budget for the fiscal year starting in October 2021, which honors his commitment. For the past few weeks, he has been consulting with his advisors to determine what number of refugees could realistically be admitted to the United States between now and October 1. Given the decimated refugee admissions program we inherited, and burdens on the Office of Refugee Resettlement, his initial goal of 62,500 seems unlikely.

While finalizing that determination, the President was urged to take immediate action to reverse the Trump policy that banned refugees from many key regions, to enable flights from those regions to begin within days; today’s order did that. With that done, we expect the President to set a final, increased refugee cap for the remainder of this fiscal year by May 15.