Biden Administration Faces Backlash Over Refugee Cap

On Friday, President Biden said he would keep the historically low, 15,000-refuge limit this year, set by the Trump administration and breaking an earlier promise to let in more than 60,000 people fleeing persecution and war. The Biden administration is on track to admit the lowest amount of refugees of any president in U.S. history, and following backlash, the White House went back on the statement, saying it would raise the cap in May, though there was no comment as to what specific number that would be.

In February, the State Department presented Congress with a plan to more than quadruple the current plan to allow up to 62,500 refugees to resettle in the U.S., and the White House had already agreed with the State Department on that number. Many democratic leaders criticized Biden after the announcement Friday, a stark contrast to the February plan, and subsequent flip-flop promising to raise the cap, pointing to the administration’s challenges establishing immigration policy.

“Completely and utterly unacceptable.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted. “Biden promised to welcome immigrants, and people voted for him based on that promise.”

Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) also released a statement following the news, “These refugees can wait years for their chance and go through extensive vetting. Thirty-five thousand are ready. Facing the greatest refugee crisis in our time there is no reason to limit the number to 15,000. Say it ain’t so, President Joe.”

The new, self-imposed deadline for the White House to release a new refugee cap is May 15. The White House plans on meeting with the nine non-governmental agencies that work with the government to help resettle refugees.

The White House held a call later Friday night with refugee resettlement agencies. According to Politico, White House Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said the administration would try to raise the cap well before May 15, and sources on the call said they were not told whose decision it was to maintain the 15,000 cap, nor were given an explanation as to why the May 15 deadline wasn’t included in the initial announcement.

On Saturday, Biden addressed the backtracking surrounding the initial announcement, “We’re gonna increase the numbers. The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people, and we couldn’t do two things at once. And now we’re going to increase the numbers.”

While the administration will be raising the cap, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Friday that Biden’s initial promise of admitting 62,500 refugees “… seems unlikely.”

LGBTQ activists also spoke up about the decision as an intersectional, queer issue. Jorge Gutierrez, executive director of the Latinx advocacy organization Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, said the decision was unacceptable.

“President Biden was elected to reverse Trump’s anti-refugee policies, not make them worse,” Gutierrez said in a statement to them. “The Biden administration made a commitment earlier this year to protect LGBTQ+ people worldwide—this must include allowing LGBTQ+ refugees into the country, not putting a limitation on how many refugees the U.S. accepts.”

Shortly after overturning Trump’s military ban, Biden signed a foreign policy memo putting the U.S. at the “forefront” of global LGBTQ rights and called on worldwide embassies and agencies, “… to lead by the power of our example.”

Photo courtesy of Department of Defense and Lisa Ferdinando