Trump slashes refugee levels this year to historic low of 30,000
Trump slashes refugee levels this year to historic low of 30,000
The Trump administration has limited the number of refugees admitted into the United States in the next fiscal year to 30,000, the lowest number in more than 38 years.
For this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, the Trump administration's cap was 45,000 — the lowest number.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the announcement publicly, adding that this year the U.S. will also be inundated with more than 280,000 asylum seekers, who are immigrants who come to the U.S. to claim protection rather than applying for resettlement from abroad.
This is another demonstration that the U.S. is stepping back from global leadership and engagement to protect refugees," said Betsy Fisher, policy director at the International Refugee Assistance Project.
"We were told that the slow rates of processing this year were due to the implementation of new security checks and that processing would pick back up. This number shows that was never the intent and the goal has always been to reduce the overall number of refugees admitted."
