Biden to Raise Refugee Cap from 15,000 to 62,500

President Joe Biden announced in a statement Monday he will raise the U.S.' refugee cap to 62,500 this fiscal year after announcing last month he would keep the former administration's historically-low 15,000 refugee limit. In April, the Biden administration said the president would sign an emergency determination to speed refugee processing, but would not raise the ceiling set by former President Donald Trump, despite Biden's earlier pledges to raise the cap. After pushback from Democrats and activists, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden would look to announce a higher ceiling in May, though she said it would be difficult to meet the 62,500 goal because of the former administration's changes. In Monday's statement, Biden said that the "sad truth is that we will not achieve 62,500 admissions this year," also citing the former administration's "damage of the last four years." The president said efforts are underway to expand the U.S.’ capacity to admit refugees to reach a goal of 125,000 refugee admissions for the coming fiscal year, which begins in September. Coverage from across the spectrum tended to frame the decision as a result of Democratic criticism of the Biden administration.