The Biden administration said Monday it would raise the refugee admission limit to 125,000 in fiscal year 2022, meeting a goal that President BidenJoe bidenCapitol fences begin to fall after 'Justice for J6' rally Senate MP rejects Democrats' immigration plan Biden rejects Democrats over taxes PLUS set during his presidential campaign.
The State Department said it transmitted a report to relevant Congressional committees recommending "an increase in the target for refugee admissions from 62,500 in fiscal year 2021 to 125,000 in fiscal year 2022 to address the needs generated by humanitarian crises in all the world". The next fiscal year begins in October.
Biden endured a torrent of criticism earlier this year when the White House announced that it would maintain the Trump administration's historic minimum refugee limit of 15,000. The White House quickly changed course, saying the figure was not final. Weeks later, the administration raised the limit to 62,500 but he cautioned that officials are unlikely to achieve that goal.
The Biden administration will need additional spaces in part to accommodate Afghans being brought to the United States after the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban during the US military withdrawal from the country.
Some 53,000 Afghans have been brought to the United States, although a portion of them are applicants for special immigrant visas (SIV).
The report, which was prepared by the Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services and sent to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, says the administration is raising the limit with a particular focus on the following populations: โ expanded resettlement of Central Americans; better access to USRAP for Afghans at risk due to their affiliation with the United States; increased resettlement of LGBTQI + refugees; priority access for Uighurs at risk, Hong Kong refugees and Burmese dissidents; and the resettlement of Burmese Rohingya ".
According to the report, the administration would allocate 40,000 places for refugees from Africa; 15,000 for those from East Asia; 10,000 for those from Europe and Central Asia; 15,000 for those from Latin America and the Caribbean; 35,000 for those from the Near East and South Asia; and 10,000 unassigned.
The administration acknowledges in the report that arrivals in the current fiscal year "will be well below" the 62,500 target that Biden set in early May.
Updated at 5:45 pm
