‘Shameful’: Biden Slammed By Democrats For Reversing Position on Refugees, Keeping Trump Cap in Place

Aidan McLaughlinApr 16th, 2021, 2:07 pm
 

Amr Alfiky-Pool/Getty Images

As recently as February, President Joe Biden decried his predecessor for the historically low cap placed on the admission of refugees into the United States. He proposed raising the cap to more than 60,000 this year, and 125,000 the next.

Yet on Friday, Biden signed an emergency determination that keeps in place the Trump administration’s limit of 15,000 refugee admissions per year.

The decision was decried by Democrats in Congress.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), herself a refugee, called the reversal “shameful.” Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) called the admissions level “appallingly low.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) deemed the decision “[c]ompletely and utterly unacceptable” and called on Biden to “[k]eep your promise.”

In February, Biden decried Trump for cutting refugee admissions, noting the United States used to take in 125,000 refugees annually. Former President Barack Obama, in his final year in office, had set the cap at 110,000. By the time Biden took over from Trump, that number had been slashed to 15,000.

On Friday, Biden signed an emergency determination to speed the processing of refugees, but kept the cap at that same level.

The New York Times explained the decision making, based on White House sources:

The reversal on Mr. Biden’s promise to welcome in thousands of families fleeing war and religious persecution signals the president’s hesitant approach to rebuilding an immigration system gutted by his predecessor. But the delay in officially designating the refugee admissions has already left hundreds of refugees cleared to travel to the United State stranded in camps around the world and infuriated resettlement agencies that accused Mr. Biden of breaking an earlier promise to restore the American reputation as a sanctuary for the oppressed.

A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the decision-making, said the administration grew concerned that the surge of border crossings by unaccompanied minors was too much and had already overwhelmed the refugee branch of the Department of Health and Human Services. But migrants at the border seeking asylum are processed in an entirely separate system than refugees fleeing persecution overseas.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the refugee cap, which has sparked criticism from progressives, at a press briefing on Thursday.

“The President remains committed to raising the refugee cap, and I can assure anyone who has concerns that that remains the case,” she said then.

Journalists also called out the administration for keeping in place the draconian immigration restrictions that characterized the Trump administration:

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Aidan McLaughlin - Editor in Chief

Aidan McLaughlin is the Editor in Chief of Mediaite. Send tips via email: aidan@mediaite.com. Ask for Signal. Follow him on Twitter: @aidnmclaughlin