Advocacy Matters! Biden Raises Refugee Cap

by | May 5, 2021 | IMMIGRATION LAW

When Biden was running for president it was easy to take a humanitarian position against the vagaries of the last administration. However now that he’s in the hotseat he’s finding out how difficult the immigration quagmire is.

There are desperate folks arriving at our Southern border in record numbers and he’s championing an immigration bill that faces stiff opposition from the right that’s armed with the filibuster.

Last month when the administration did not roll back Trump’s extremely low refugee cap of 15,000 refugees per year, immigrant advocates were justifiably upset.

The outrage worked and the White House quickly walked that back, and announced that it was taking steps to restore refugee limits to previous levels — allowing as many as 62,500 refugees to enter the country in the next six months.

Apparently, Biden felt raising the cap would be terrible timing given the political pressure he was facing despite the fact that he attributed his decision to a concern about resources in the refugee office of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The important takeaway is that the Biden administration was responsive to the concerns of informed immigration advocates. This is an encouraging sign for all of us in the immigration law community and a reminder that we can make a difference with advocacy.

Recent Posts

Contact Us