A Call to Rebuild

 

On World Refugee Day, A Call to Rebuild U.S. Refugee Resettlement

World Refugee Day is celebrated internationally on June 20 every year. It honors the struggle of refugees around the world who are fleeing violence and persecution and are unable to safely return to their home countries.

Over this past year, in the middle of a devastating global pandemic, the number of refugees worldwide hit an all-time high of over 26 million. At the same time, the Trump administration continued its drastic reduction in the number of refugees annually accepted into the United States.

This year’s World Refugee Day brings hope that the United States will reassert itself as a humanitarian leader under the Biden administration. But it also serves as a reminder – more actions are needed to undo the damage of the Trump-era and rebuild the capacity of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP).

On the campaign trail, President Biden pledged to change course dramatically by raising the annual refugee cap to 125,000. In April, he flip-flopped on this commitment and decided to maintain Trump’s historically low admissions cap of 15,000. After backlash from advocacy groups and members of Congress, Biden finally raised the cap in May from 15,000 to 62,500. He also pledged to double the cap to 125,000 for fiscal year 2022.

Despite these changes, the United States is on pace to resettle a historically low number of refugees in FY 2021. As of May 31, only 3,250 refugees have been resettled this year. At the current rate, fewer than 5,000 refugees would be resettled in FY 2021 – lower than any year during the Trump administration.