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The Biden administration last year set a target of 125,000 refugee admissions. And advocates warn it would essentially bump from the line those who have already been vetted and are awaiting approvals.
President Donald Trump is considering admitting far fewer refugees into the U.S. this year, as few as 7,500, and mostly white South Africans. The new figures have not been finalized by the Trump administration or officially transmitted in a notification to Congress as required by last week’s deadline, according to two people familiar with the situation who were granted anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss it with the media.
The decreased numbers of refugees would be a stark departure from the higher figures traditionally allowed into the U.S. The Biden administration last year set a target of 125,000 refugee admissions. And advocates warn it would essentially bump from the line those who have already been vetted and are awaiting approvals. It all comes as the Department of Homeland Security is engaged in a crackdown on immigrants in American cities, including this past weekend in Chicago, and recruiting officers with a social media campaign to “recapture our national identity.”
Trump suspended the refugee program in JanuaryThe refugee program — which once had widespread bipartisan support — was suspended on Trump’s first day in office. Since then, only a trickle of refugees have been admitted to the country, either as part of an ongoing court case seeking to resume the program or as part of a new refugee program for Afrikaners that Trump announced in February.
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Over128,000 refugees have currently been approved for resettlement in the United States and are now stuck in limbo, said Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, the Jewish refugee resettlement agency. In addition, 14,000 Jews, Christians and other religious minorities in Iran have long been registered with the refugee program.
