Pres. Biden keeps US refugee cap at 15K, rather than raising it

Steve Holland/REUTERS

Updated: Apr 16, 2021 / 11:42 AM EDT

CAMPO, CA – OCTOBER 08: A U.S. flag put up by activists who oppose illegal immigration flies near the US-Mexico border fence in an area where they search for border crossers October 8, 2006 near Campo, California. The activists want the fence expanded into a fully-lit double-fenced barrier between the US (R) and Mexico. US Fish and Wildlife Service wardens and environmentalists warn that a proposed plan by US lawmakers to construct 700 miles of double fencing along the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border, in an attempt to wall-out illegal immigrants, would also harm rare wildlife. Wildlife experts say cactus-pollinating insects would fly around fence lights, birds that migrate by starlight in the desert wilderness would be confused, and large mammals such as jaguars, Mexican wolves, Sonoran pronghorn antelope, and desert bighorn sheep would be blocked from migrating across the international border, from California to Texas. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — President Joe Biden signed an order on Friday to keep the U.S. refugee cap at a historically low 15,000, a senior administration official said, rather than raise it to 62,500 as he had been considering.

Under an emergency presidential determination signed by Biden, the United States will offer refugee status to a wider part of the world than had been allowed by his predecessor, Donald Trump, the official said.

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