Joe Biden and his administration have finally decided to raise the refugee cap, according to the White House after initially saying that the cap would not be raised. This means that the United States’ annual refugee admissions cap will rise to a total of 62,500 for the 2021 fiscal year.
This adjustment will multiply the original cap of 15,000 by a multiplier of four. It has been difficult for the Biden administration to handle policy issues relating to the refugee admissions cap and they have changed their plans several times now. It’s currently unclear if their position on the issue will change again, but the White House did say that Biden would consider doubling the admissions cap for refugees to 125,000 for the next fiscal year in 2022.
Biden was clearly proud of the announcement that his administration made in regards to the refugee admissions cap and it sounds like they will continue down a trajectory that will ultimately raise the cap over the next several years.
It’s going to be an almighty task to try and actually take in this many refugees in Biden’s first official year in the White House. The amount of time that has been spent on this issue in recent months may have made it more difficult for the process to work efficiently. With that being said, this announcement was still praised by supporters of refugee programs and migrant programs.
More information about the refugee admissions cap in the upcoming years will be made available to the public soon as additional details are worked out. The only thing for sure right now is that Biden has plans to double the cap for 2022 to approximately 125,000.