FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2022
PRESS CONTACT
Spencer Tilger
media@refugeerights.org
646.761.2556
IRAP URGES BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TO MEET 125,000 REFUGEE ADMISSIONS TARGET
(New York, NY) – Yesterday, President Biden signed a new Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions (PD) maintaining the refugee admissions target at 125,000 refugees for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. Given that the United States has so far resettled fewer than 20,000 refugees in FY 2022, less than 16% of the 125,000 goal, the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) urges the Biden administration to commit and prioritize the resources necessary to meet its goal.
IRAP Policy Director, Sunil Varghese, issued the following statement:
“Over the past year, communities across the country have welcomed people displaced from Afghanistan and Ukraine who arrived via humanitarian parole, but permanent resettlement through the refugee program has remained historically low. The cases of hundreds of thousands of refugees from many other countries around the world have been languishing for years.
The U.S. refugee resettlement infrastructure urgently needs investment and innovation in order to function efficiently and provide permanent refuge to those in need. The refugee admissions target should be followed by concrete actions to improve the refugee resettlement process and actually resettle more refugees. Specifically, the Biden administration must work to promptly reunite separated refugee families, build a permanent robust private sponsorship of refugees program that adds resettlement capacity, and take steps to protect the program from future disruption. Meeting the refugee admissions goal of 125,000 refugees should be realistic, not just aspirational.”
Additional Information
Earlier this month, 385 state and local officials from all 50 states signed a bipartisan letter urging President Biden to meet his administration’s commitment to resettle refugees in FY 2023 by restoring the nation’s refugee resettlement infrastructure. Read the press release: HERE
Read IRAP’s recommendations for rebuilding the refugee program: HERE
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