In a break with the Trump administration, the White House said it would announce a “large cap soon” for refugee arrivals, days after walking back plans to maintain the current resettlement limit.
“We’re trying to send a message to the world that we are one of welcoming refugees, and that’s who we are as an administration,” press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday, adding that the new limit would likely be announced before May 15.
BIDEN ACCELERATES REFUGEE PROCESS WHILE STALLING ON PROMISED ADMISSION CAP HIKE
Calling the cap “just a number,” Psaki joked that the White House “could set the cap at 100,000 or a million.”
Historically, “you don’t reach the cap,” she added but said the White House is committed to an “aspirational” 125,000 person cap by the end of next fiscal year.
The White House drew backlash from progressives on Friday after announcing it would not lift the cap on the number of refugees who can resettle in the U.S., a campaign promise, before reversing plans.
Officials have denied any connection between the number of refugees allowed to settle in the country, many of whom have been vetted in their home countries and are awaiting the U.S. response, and the number of arrivals along the U.S-Mexico border. However, President Joe Biden linked the two on Saturday while speaking to reporters outside of the Wilmington Country Club.
The president also called the surge in people arriving at the southern border a “crisis,” a term officials have avoided.
“We’re gonna increase the numbers,” Biden said of the cap. “The problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the border with young people, and we couldn’t do two things at once. And now we’re going to increase the numbers.”
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Asked about this, Psaki said the “primary obstacle” to meeting the increased number was the Trump administration’s “decimation” of federal immigration systems. But she also said the costs associated with the care of unaccompanied migrant children were a contributing factor.
“Taking care of children and doing it the humane way costs money,” Psaki said.
