Washington, D.C. – Today, President Biden announced plans to keep Trump’s historic low refugee admission at 15,000, breaking a promise to raise the cap to over 62,000 by the end of the year. Then, following community outrage, backtracked on his decision.
Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, Senior Advocacy Manager of United We Dream, said:
“President Biden’s announcement today to keep refugee admission numbers at Trump’s historic lows is a disgraceful decision. At every turn, the Trump administration sought to make it harder for immigrants wanting to come to the U.S. to better provide for themselves and their families. Trump referred to immigrants from predominantly African countries in the most derogatory of terms.
President Biden maintaining Trump-level refugee admittance is happening at a time when thousands of immigrants are being deported and expelled from our borders, many of them Black immigrants, largely under the Trump-era Title 42 policy.
The Biden administration must keep their promise, and raise the refugee numbers instead of continuing to advance policies that hurt Black and brown immigrants. President Biden, you must do better. The choices here are clear: continue Trump’s legacy of white nationalist policies or choose to boldly set our country on a transformative new path forward by increasing the refugee cap, stopping detentions and deportations, and providing a broad pathway to citizenship for millions of people NOW!”
