Congresswoman Sara Jacobs Calls on President Biden to Lift Refugee Cap
Today, the White House stated that Trump-era levels will remain in place this year
Today, President Biden signed an executive order that expedites processing for refugee admissions but maintains the Trump-era cap on 15,000 admitted refugees per year.
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, joined a letter led by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (MN-05) calling for the Biden Administration to lift the cap to 62,500, stating, “We must keep our promises to people who have fled unthinkably brutal conditions in their home countries and live up to our ambition to provide them a safe haven to re-start their lives”
The letter also called for the Biden Administration to remove Trump-era policies that discriminated against Muslim refugees. Refugees must go through an extensive, years-long process, to be accepted.
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs released the following statement:
“I am extremely disappointed that the White House has chosen to keep the Trump Administration’s unthinkably low cap on refugee admission. The current levels stand in direct contrast to American values, to President Biden’s own assurances, and to the State Department’s February report to Congress that it would raise the refugee admission target from 15,000 to 62,500.
“We have a moral obligation to provide safety and security to refugees fleeing violence and humanitarian crises. Refugees make our country better and refugee resettlement makes us a more credible advocate for human rights and democracy around the world.”