US President Joe Biden said today, Monday, that he has revived a plan to increase the number of asylum applications this year to 62,500 after he was criticized by supporters when he initially kept the minimum asylum requests at a historically low level.
Biden, a Democrat, officially changed his decision two weeks later, just after his administration announced that it would maintain the maximum set by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, at 15,000.
Biden said in a statement, that his “step” erases the lower limit, set by the previous administration at 15,000, which does not reflect America’s values as a country that welcomes and supports refugees.
He added, “It is important to take this step today to remove any suspicion lingering in the minds of refugees around the world who have suffered so much, and who are impatiently waiting for the start of their new lives.”
NEW- https://t.co/BrUfJRF9cc Statement on the Biden Administration’s Expansion of Refugee Admissions https://t.co/gDnm4p3lwT pic.twitter.com/HdDA0Er4di
— FWD.us (@FWDus) May 3, 2021
Biden’s flipside angered refugee advocates and some Democratic lawmakers.
Biden said, “It is not certain that the United States will be able to receive 62,500 refugees in total by the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, or reach the target of 125,000 applications next year.”
He continued, “The hard truth is that we will not be able to accept 62,500 applications this year. We are working quickly to avoid the damage that has occurred in the past four years. This will take some time, but this work is being done now.”