Biden to keep refugee cap at historically low figure set by Trump

President Biden will sign an order Friday to keep the number of refugee admissions this year at the historically low figure set by the Trump administration, walking back a campaign promise to raise the cap, a senior administration official confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: Biden has faced mounting pressure to increase the limit as he pledged, with his administration set to accept the lowest number of refugees this year of any modern president, including former President Trump.

Instead of raising the cap, Biden is instead adjusting allocation limits to allow more slots for refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, and lifting Trump's restrictions on resettlement from Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The maximum number of refugees allowed to resettle dropped from 85,000 to 15,000 during Trump's presidency.