President Biden issued an executive order on Thursday to increase the number of refugees and enable the US to aim to provide a safe haven to 125,000 people around the world fleeing violence, conflict and persecution during its first full fiscal year in office.
In the warrant, Mr. Biden called for an expansion of the decades-old US refugee program, which was gutted by former President Trump, who often described refugees as economic and security risks. After former President Obama set a cap of 110,000 people before leaving office, Mr. Trump lowered it every fiscal year by allocating a historically low 15,000 places in 2020.
Speaking at the State Department earlier Thursday, Mr. Biden said the goal is to set a limit of 125,000 people for the 2022 fiscal year, which begins in October. Mr. Biden also said he had ordered the State Department to consult Congress “on making a down payment for that pledge as soon as possible,” suggesting that he may be raising the 15,000 ceiling for the pledge. current fiscal year.
“It will take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged, but that is exactly what we are going to do,” said Mr Biden during his remarks, noting that refugee resettlement has historically enjoyed bipartisan support.
Last week, the United Nations Refugee Agency reported that countries around the world received fewer than 23,000 refugees in 2020, the lowest number in nearly two decades, partly due to travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. The agency said that of the more than 20 million refugees it helps in different countries, 1.44 million are in urgent need of resettlement.
According to the latest data from the State Department, the US admitted less than 12,000 refugees in fiscal year 2020 and received nearly 1,000 refugees between October and December.
Established in 1980, the Modern American Refugee Program aims to provide protection for people abroad who have faced persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a social group such as the LGBT community.
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In his command, Mr. Biden said on Thursday that his government would prioritize the resettlement of women, children and others who are persecuted for their gender or sexual orientation. He also commissioned an inter-institutional study of ways to help people affected by displaced persons climate change, including by resettling them in the US.
Earlier this week, Democratic Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Zoe Lofgren urged Mr. Biden is committed to developing a refugee policy that takes into account migration fueled by climate change, particularly from Central America, a region hit by two hurricanes last fall. The World Bank estimated that 1.4 million people in Mexico and Central America could migrate by 2050 due to the effects of climate change, including crop failures.
“We are hugely encouraged to see the Biden administration align with our recommendations and begin the process of rebuilding this historic bipartisan program and returning the United States to its leading position on the world stage,” wrote Nadler and Lofgren in their letter.
Shortly after taking office in 2017, Mr. Trump decided to temporarily suspend the refugee program, arguing that more control procedures needed to be implemented. Not only has Trump drastically reduced the number of admissions, he has also issued an injunction allowing states and local jurisdictions to block refugee resettlement in their communities.
By his order on Thursday, Mr. Biden repealed Mr. Trump’s guidelines.
Mr. Biden instructed the Department of Homeland Security to consider having refugees interviewed remotely and asked the Office of Personnel Management to support the hiring of more refugee officers. The president also called for an increase in private and community sponsorship of refugees, a partnership on which the Canadian government has relied.
Mr. Trump’s changes prompted the nonprofits that help the government to resettle refugees to close offices, lay off staff and lose federal funds.
Matthew Soerens, the director of church mobilization at World Relief, one of those resettlement agencies, said his group closed eight offices during the Trump administration. He said it is likely to be impossible to resettle 125,000 refugees during the remainder of the 2021 fiscal year, given the current infrastructure.
“We are very curious about the reconstruction and look forward to the opportunity,” Soerens told CBS News. “But we’re also doing this as soon as we can with limited resources. It won’t be rebuilt overnight.”
Resettlement agencies receive refugees when they arrive in the US and help them with housing, finding work, enrolling their children in schools, and other things to facilitate their integration into US communities.
Meredith Owen, the director of policy and advocacy at Church World Service, another resettlement agency, echoed Soerens’ comments.
“We will need the Biden administration to really take concrete steps to rebuild the overseas and domestic infrastructure to actually resettle the number of refugees we hope to resettle in the next four years,” Owen told CBS News. , saying that the processing of refugees should also be speeded up.
The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service has closed or suspended the services of 17 of the 48 resettlement offices for the past four years. Krish Vignarajah, the group’s chairman, recognized the logistical challenges of accelerating the number of refugees, but emphasized the symbolism of Mr Biden’s dedication.
“Raising the ceiling will literally save lives for hundreds of thousands fleeing violence and persecution because of the color of their skin, how they worship or who they love,” Vignarajah told CBS News.