{"id":125772,"date":"2021-04-16T17:58:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T17:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=f6789ba4a6cde6483fd6e1149db09788"},"modified":"2021-04-16T17:58:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T17:58:51","slug":"biden-breaks-promise-on-refugee-resettlement-imposing-trumps-draconian-cap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/04\/16\/biden-breaks-promise-on-refugee-resettlement-imposing-trumps-draconian-cap\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Breaks Promise on Refugee Resettlement, Imposing Trump\u2019s \u201cDraconian\u201d Cap"},"content":{"rendered":"\"President<\/a>

President Joe Biden will uphold former President Donald Trump\u2019s historically low \u201crefugee cap\u201d despite earlier promises to raise it drastically, <\/span>he announced Friday<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s decision prolongs what Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) <\/span>have decried<\/span><\/a> as \u201cthe Trump Administration\u2019s full-scale assault on refugee resettlement in the United States.\u201d The progressive lawmakers had previously sent a letter to Biden criticizing this \u201cunacceptably draconian and discriminatory\u201d refugee policy and urging him to formally increase the maximum number of refugees that may be admitted to the U.S. each year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though Biden pledged to <\/span>raise the limit to 125,000 a year <\/span><\/a>and overturn some of Trump\u2019s restrictive policies, Biden delayed signing a presidential determination to formally raise the limit for weeks. Now, with this new decision, the U.S. will continue turning away tens of thousands of refugees, many of whom <\/span>have already been cleared<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

A recent report found that Biden is set to accept the <\/span>fewest refugees<\/span><\/a> of any modern president because of the restrictive refugee limit of 15,000 people per year that Trump set during his term. Biden had given Democrats and progressives false hope that he would undo that limit earlier this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have all been deeply distressed at the stories of hundreds of refugees who had been cleared for resettlement having their flights cancelled at the last minute, in some cases having already left their residences and sold their belongings.\u201d <\/span>read the letter<\/span><\/a> led by Omar, Jayapal and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois). \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The letter had been cosigned by more than 30 other Democratic representatives as of Friday morning, including members of the progressive squad like Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) and Jamaal Bowman (D-New York). The lawmakers urged Biden to sign a presidential determination to formally lift the cap \u201cimmediately,\u201d because \u201cLives depend on it.\u201d Biden had delayed signing it for many weeks, presumably because he has now changed his mind on the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is immense and growing urgency on this issue, for the many who have already been <\/span>approved for resettlement, and for the unimaginable number of people who continue to hold out <\/span>hope that they can one day rebuild their lives destroyed by climate, conflict, and repression,\u201d the letter from the lawmakers said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lawmakers emphasized findings that Muslim refugees are disproportionately affected by oppressive policies put forth by Trump; Syrian refugees, who were <\/span>hurt most by Trump\u2019s policies<\/span><\/a> cruelly banning refugees, are especially affected.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lawmakers\u2019 letter followed similar demands from <\/span>humanitarian organizations<\/span><\/a> that have also urged Biden to undo Trump\u2019s cap. Advocates from the International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit humanitarian aid organization, told <\/span>The Washington Post<\/span><\/i> this week that they were concerned and alarmed about Biden\u2019s delay in signing the presidential determination. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some Democratic aides and <\/span>senior administration officials<\/span><\/a> have offered an explanation for Biden\u2019s decision: The president apparently <\/span>fears bad optics<\/span><\/a> because of the <\/span>Republican-driven<\/span><\/a> narrative that Biden has prompted an unusually high number of immigrants to attempt to cross the U.S.\u2019s southern border. In reality, analyses have shown that a <\/span>slight uptick<\/span><\/a> in border crossings this year is explainable by seasonal patterns and the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many political commentators have pointed out that Biden\u2019s logic of denying refugees entrance for political reasons is cruel. \u201cSo Biden is continuing a profoundly immoral policy that hurts desperate people because he\u2019s worried about Republican fearmongering on a separate issue,\u201d <\/span>wrote Radley Balko<\/span><\/a>, a <\/span>Washington Post<\/span><\/i> journalist, on Twitter. \u201cThat\u2019s not leadership. It\u2019s capitulation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Democrats and progressives also recently expressed frustration over Biden\u2019s immigration policies when news outlets reported that his administration was <\/span>still continuing to build<\/span><\/a> Trump\u2019s border wall, despite Biden\u2019s promises that \u201c<\/span>not another foot<\/span><\/a>\u201d of the wall would be built under his administration. <\/span><\/p>\n

Omar <\/span>said in a press release<\/span><\/a> earlier this month that she is \u201cdeeply disturbed by reports that the Administration is considering further construction of Donald Trump\u2019s border wall.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThe wall is a monument of xenophobia and hatred that does nothing to address the root causes of migration and asylum claims \u2014 violence and unrest in the countries of origin that the United States has often exacerbated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Latest \u2013 Truthout<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"President<\/a><\/p>\n

Democratic aides are accusing Biden of prolonging Trump\u2019s cruel refugee policies due to fears about \u201coptics.\u201d<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1459,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,959,1383,51,4897,4,7005,238],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125772"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125773,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125772\/revisions\/125773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}