Sen. Bob Menendez Of NJ Says Biden Is Shirking His Refugee Pledge

NEW JERSEY — President Joe Biden has apparently walked back a promise to increase the number of refugees allowed to enter the United States this year, and it’s raising major concerns among some immigration advocates in New Jersey, including his fellow Democrat, Sen. Robert Menendez.

Biden previously said he would hike U.S. refugee admissions to 60,000 this year, but will keep it to the historically low level of 15,000 set by the Trump administration instead, The New York Times reported Friday.

The president notified Congress in February that he would increase the number of refugees allowed to enter the country in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, adding that the total would be increased to 125,000 for the following year, NBC News stated.

However, Biden hasn’t filed the necessary paperwork, resulting in hundreds of cancelled flights from abroad, WNYC reported.

“President Biden’s decision to leave Trump-era refugee caps in place means that the United States will, once again, accept the lowest number of refugees since it ratified the refugee convention in 1980,” said Austin Kocher, a faculty fellow with the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

On Friday, Menendez – the author of the Biden Administration’s “roadmap to citizenship” immigration bill in the Senate – wrote a letter to the president, urging him to follow through on his commitment.

• See related article: Democrat Plan Could Give 11M Immigrants A Path To US Citizenship

“Failing to issue a new determination undermines your declared purpose to reverse your predecessor’s refugee policies,” Menendez said, warning that there may be “serious repercussions” associated with the Biden administration’s delay.

His full letter follows below.

“We write to thank you for reaffirming last week your commitment to welcoming 125,000 refugees in fiscal year 2022. We also urge you to move swiftly to issue the revised presidential determination on refugee admissions for fiscal year 2021. The United States has a proud, bipartisan tradition of providing refugees protection through resettlement. In this time of great global need, the United States must demonstrate its robust commitment as a nation by resettling the world’s most vulnerable refugees. Throughout our country, refugees have enriched our communities through cultural, economic and scientific contributions.

“As your administration reported to Congress earlier this year, ‘unforeseen developments including new political violence, humanitarian crises, and growing threats to refugees in countries of asylum all support a need to increase the refugee admissions number for FY 2021 since the presidential determination was signed on October 27, 2020.” That determination by the previous administration set the refugee admissions ceiling at 15,000 refugees – the lowest cap on refugee admissions since the inception of the refugee resettlement program 40 years ago.

“The administration’s delay in issuing the revised presidential determination for 2021 has had serious repercussions. By failing to issue a revised determination, the White House has not only stymied the number of refugees permitted entrance into the United States, but also it has prevented the Department of State from admitting vetted refugees currently waiting in the system who do not fit into the unprecedentedly narrow refugee categories designated by the Trump administration. Tragically, this has resulted in the flights of over 700 refugees being cancelled, and an indefinite suspension on arrivals of similarly situated refugees. Due to the delay, your administration is on track to fall well short of welcoming a scant 15,000 refugees for FY21, itself an appallingly low admissions level set by the previous administration. Failing to issue a new determination undermines your declared purpose to reverse your predecessor’s refugee policies and to rebuild the Refugee Admissions Program to a target of 125,000 people in FY22, and threatens U.S. leadership on forced migration.

“As we face the largest global refugee crisis in history, with 29.6 million refugees worldwide, resettlement serves as a critical tool in providing protection to those fleeing persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. We look forward to working with you to restore America’s promise to refugees and hope to see the administration take the first step by issuing a revised presidential determination.”

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