Third Way: The Refugee Ceiling – A Broken Promise
GUILLERMO ARIAS
At the end of the Vietnam War, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and Cambodians were seeking refuge from the political danger that had been left behind in their home countries. However, the immigration laws at the time prevented large amounts of refugees from entering the country, as the annual ceiling for refugees was only at 17,400 refugees per year. While the refugees of the Vietnam War were able to enter the United States by order of the president, it was clear that changes needed to be made to the current immigration policy. This led to the creation and passing of the Refugee Act of 1980, which called for the ceiling to be raised to 50,000 refugees, as well as for this ceiling to be reexamined by Congress and the president every year.
The Refugee Ceiling
When President Trump took office, he first ordered a temporary freeze on admitting refugees. The next year, as a new refugee ceiling needed to be set, Trump placed the refugee cap at 45,000 for the 2018 fiscal year. Each year that he was in office, he continued to lower the refugee ceiling until his last year, the fiscal year 2021, of 15,000 refugees. This was lower than it had been in forty years, since the passing of the Refugee Act of 1980. As a result, part of Trump’s campaign and thus his opponent’s – Biden – involved the refugee ceiling. Biden promised the country that he would raise Trump’s extremely low refugee ceiling to 125,000, something that the majority of Democrats stood behind Biden on.
Yet, once Biden was elected, he instead stated that he was keeping the refugee cap where Trump had set it – at 15,000 refugees for the year. There was an instant outcry regarding this, as not only was it a broken promise that he had made so soon into his presidency, but such a low refugee cap for immigrants and refugees is against what the Democratic party stands for. This move has caused many Democrats to reevaluate their support for Biden and has changed their perception of his administration, some even going far enough to call it “Trump-like”, as Biden’s reasoning for doing so was flawed. While his administration claimed that it was because an increase in migrants at the Mexico border – and thus in unaccompanied migrant children – had caused the Office of Refugee Resettlement system to be overrun, the systems for unaccompanied migrant children and refugees are two separate systems, thus Biden has yet to give a good reason for breaking his promise and keeping Trump’s historically low cap.
Biden has since raised the cap to 62,500 for the current fiscal year after multitudes of criticism from his own party. Ironically, in his press statement, he said that the refugee program “embodies America’s commitment to protecting the most vulnerable, and to stand as a beacon of liberty and refuge to the world”. Yet it is clear that he only increased the refugee ceiling due to the outpouring of criticism that he received from within his party, both from the general public and congressional representatives alike. Where was Biden’s commitment to protecting these refugees when he originally kept the refugee ceiling at only 15,000? While Biden is certainly a better fit for America and the values of the Democratic party than Trump, it is evident that he is not perfect and thus the public must not merely accept his orders and statements without voicing their dissent on issues like this.
The Problems of Raising the Refugee Cap
However, there are legitimate drawbacks to increasing the refugee ceiling, which Biden was well aware of when he first kept Trump’s limit. The current resettlement programs in the US are not without their problems, and an influx in the number of refugees could overwhelm them, or even prove impossible. During Trump’s administration, since the number of incoming refugees continued to decrease to such a small number yearly, many of the agencies that handled refugees were forced to close. This means that there are currently not enough agencies and the system is not strong enough as of right now to actually accept the number of refugees of Biden’s new limit, and especially not Biden’s hopeful next ceiling of 125,000.
Even if the system was reasonably able to process the increased number of incoming refugees, the infrastructure of the resettlement organizations that are supposed to help assimilate the refugees into the American society and economy is badly broken as well. First, the limited funding that is provided to these refugees that is supposed to help them afford rent and food for a small period of time until they are on their feet, has not risen with increased and inflated living costs of the communities they’re being resettled into, thus placing the refugees at an economic disadvantage. Trump’s administration was also responsible for pushing a very xenophobic mindset, which is still in place today, and thus refugees being settled into certain communities might be unwelcome and possibly in danger.
A Dedication to the Best America Possible
Yet, even given these drawbacks, it is important and necessary to raise the refugee ceiling. These drawbacks just speak to the fact that the presidential administration and America herself must do better at resettling and accepting refugees once they arrive. More aid should be given to them, as well as greater education to the American people so that they do not view refugees as terrorists, a mindset that Trump is once again partially responsible for. These refugees are fleeing their home countries due to certain kinds of danger and it is America’s responsibility – a country which was founded on the basis of religious and political refuge – to accept them and do our best to help them. Not only that, but refugees bring new cultures and benefits to the communities and country that they become a part of.
Although Biden’s initial refugee ceiling and back-down from his campaign promise was troubling, it is a good sign that he has increased the refugee ceiling with plans to increase it more. This is what the Democratic party stands for. It is also important to note that he was receptive to the criticism of his party members and congressional party representatives, instead of becoming more of an authoritarian ruler. While there are clear changes that need to be made to the current refugee resettlement program, increasing the refugee ceiling was a necessary first step that will hopefully result in a greater number of refugees coming to the United States and an increase of acceptance for them as well.
