Biden breaks promise to raise Trump's historically low refugee admission rate

(Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images)

By Curtis Brodner

UPDATE: The Biden administration announced later on Friday that it would lift the refugee cap in May after massive backlash, according to the Associated Press.

Original story:

(WASHINGTON) The Biden administration confirmed Friday that it will maintain Trump’s historically low refugee admission rate of 15,000 people per year after proposing in February to raise the rate to 62,500 and promising during his campaign to raise the rate to 125,000, NPR reported.

The White House attributed the decision to damage done to the refugee admission’s program during the Trump administration and denied that the decision was related to increasing migration rates in March that have strained the nation's migrant detention system.

A senior administration official contradicted the White House’s public stance when the anonymous source told The New York Times that the decision was based on concerns that the refugee branch of the Department of Health and Human Services was already overwhelmed.

Migrants at the border are processed through an entirely different system than those coming from elsewhere though, and accepting more refugees hypothetically wouldn’t affect border facilities.

Refugee resettlement programs are furious that hundreds of refugees already approved to enter the U.S. are now stranded in camps around the world, according to The New York Times.

Activists saw the decision as a rebuke of progressive immigration promises made during President Joe Biden’s campaign.

“We pray President Biden will fulfill his pledge to return the U.S. to our position of global leadership on refugee resettlement," Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah told NPR.

Some Democratic politicians condemned the decision.

Julian Castro, the former secretary for Housing and Urban Development, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal denounced the limit as “a bad decision” and “simply unacceptable and unconscionable" respectively.

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