Biden Is Increasing The Number Of Refugees Allowed Into The US After Trump Decimated The Program

President Joe Biden is planning to increase the maximum number of refugees allowed into the United States next fiscal year to 125,000 beginning in October after years of cuts by the previous administration.

“It’s going to take time to rebuild what has been so badly damaged,” Biden said in a speech Thursday, “but that’s precisely what we’re going to do.”

The plan to dramatically increase the cap comes after former president Donald Trump decimated the country’s refugee program, designed to take in people fleeing dangerous conditions, and forced US-based aid organizations to lay off employees and close offices. The cap for the current fiscal year ending in September, which was set by Trump, is at 15,000, the fewest since the US began the program in 1980. But the White House signaled that Biden would aim to increase that number as well.