US president Biden administration fills only 20% of 1,25,000 refugee spots in 2022 fiscal: Top official
The Biden administration has allowed as many as 25,400 refugees to enter the country in the fiscal year 2022 despite mounting pressure from human rights groups.
The Biden administration has allowed as many as 25,400 refugees to enter the country in the fiscal year 2022 despite mounting pressure from human rights groups and ministers of his party. In an interview with CBS News, Deputy Assistant State Department Secretary Sarah Cross said only 20 per cent of 1,25,000 refugee spots allocated by the Biden administration have been filled until September 30.
However, he contested that the number will be updated soon. The major revelation from the State Department official came nearly a week after US President Joe Biden kept the nation’s cap on refugee admissions at 1,25,000 for the 2023 budget year.
According to the State Department, the number excludes the roughly 1,80,000 Ukrainians and Afghans who came to the United States via a legal process called humanitarian parole. The process is quicker than the traditional refugee program but only allows for stays of up to two years.
Notably, former US President Donald Trump, who has been a vocal critic of the immigration policy, slashed refugee spots to a record low of 15,000 during his tenure. However, after taking the oath of the Presidency in 2021, the Biden administration quadrupled the number of refugee admissions and set the target to 1,25,000 for the fiscal year 2022 which ended last week.
Cross says Biden administration taking steps to meet 2022 refugee admissions target
Citing the reason behind the low admission, Cross said the COVID-19 pandemic and the Afghanistan chaos are the most pressing issues that lead to such a low number of entries. “We are going to do everything in our power to welcome as many refugees as we can this year, recognizing that 1,25,000 remains a very ambitious target and it will take some time to get there,” Cross told the American TV program.
But we are very optimistic that we’re going to reach much higher levels than this year,” he added. According to the official, the Biden administration is taking steps to add more refugees into its account and said it has deployed roughly 600 additional personnel at US refugee process centres overseas. Besides, he asserted that the number of local domestic resettlement offices has also been increased from 199 to 270; and taken steps to expedite the processing of refugees.
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