The White House reversed its course on refugee admission on Friday after an earlier announcement that a controversial Trump-era refugee hat was being upheld was met with scorn by Democrats and immigration activists.
After a day of backlash from the Democrats, the White House press secretary Jen Psaki
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The initial decision had sparked widespread complaints from Democratic lawmakers and refugee groups, who had already urged Biden to lift the ceiling set by former President Trump
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Rep. Ilhan Omar
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Psaki’s statement late Friday sought to reverse the controversial announcement.
It said Biden’s directive was the subject of “ some confusion ” earlier Friday, and that while it would be difficult to achieve Biden’s goal of allowing 62,500 refugees into the country this year due to changes imposed by Trump, it would be try a higher ceiling than 15,000 in May.
“Over the past few weeks, he has been consulting with his advisers to determine how many refugees could realistically be admitted to the United States between now and October 1. Given the decimated refugee admissions program we have inherited, and the burdens on the Office of Refugee Resettlement, his initial target of 62,500 seems unlikely, ”said Psaki.
In finalizing that decision, the president was urged to take immediate action to reverse Trump’s policies banning refugees from many key regions so that flights from those regions can begin within days; today’s order did, ”the statement continued. “Once that’s done, we expect the president to set a definitive raised refugee ceiling by May 15 for the remainder of this fiscal year.”
The turnaround was initially well received by Democrats who criticized the refugee hood, but the White House blunder was not completely overlooked.
“While I am happy to hear that @POTUS still plans to increase the number of refugee admissions, I urge the administrator to act urgently and communicate clearly,” wrote Rep. Verónica Escobar (D-Texas) on Twitter.
The earlier announcement was doubly troubling to Democrats, both because it enforced controversial Trump-era policies and because it overrun key Capitol Hill allies.
Omar, a former beneficiary of the refugee program, had sent a letter to Biden on the matter earlier Friday, lobbying for an increased refugee ceiling.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Menendez
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“Failure to issue a new provision undermines your stated goal of reversing your predecessor’s refugee policy and rebuilding the refugee admissions program to target 125,000 people in FY22, and threatens US leadership on forced migration, ”Menendez wrote.
Still, some Democrats celebrated the flexibility of the government after a day of intense friendly fire.
“Glad this decision has been made, we are a better country for it, it is a better administration as a result,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego
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The White House has been facing questions for weeks about when Biden would sign an order to raise the refugee cap to fulfill a pledge he made on the campaign trail. Biden has said he plans to increase the number of refugee admissions to 125,000 in his first full year of office.
The government’s whiplash on refugee numbers reflects a tense system ravaged by aggressive austerity measures during the Trump administration and the continued pressure from housing unaccompanied minors found on the southwest border.
Both the reception of refugees worldwide and the care of those minors is entrusted to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
ORR has used up its $ 1.3 billion budget for this year, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal, in an effort to pay for housing for unaccompanied minors.
The agency’s fiscal woes will likely make it impossible to achieve Biden’s previously stated goal of imposing 62,500 refugees by 2021. But Biden has filed for a $ 4.3 billion ORR budget for 2022 with the goal of housing 125,000 refugees in that fiscal year.
Still, immigration attorneys were perplexed on Friday as to why Biden would proactively set a low bar at 15,000 refugees, instead of pursuing the previously stated target of 62,500 refugees.
Alex Nowrasteh, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, attributed the attitude to “political fear given the border crisis and the desire to start things small so that the refugee agencies have a chance to reboot.”