(RightWing.org) – Trump administration officials capped the number of refugee admissions at a historic low of 15,000 for fiscal year 2021, its final determination before President Donald Trump left office. President Joe Biden started tearing apart his predecessor’s efforts to secure the southern border within hours of assuming office. A recent press statement from leading Democratic lawmakers confirmed that Biden plans to cap entry at more than eight times that figure.
On September 27, Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) issued a brief joint statement after consulting with Biden administration officials on refugee authorizations for Fiscal Year 2024, which starts on October 1. The two liberal lawmakers are the ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, respectively.
The lawmakers confirmed that the White House planned to “maintain” its current “refugee cap of 125,000” for the upcoming year. They appeared to attempt to rationalize that decision by claiming it demonstrated the country’s “role in protecting vulnerable refugees.”
On cue, they also took a moment to disparage Trump. The lawmakers accused the MAGA leader of decimating the country’s “refugee resettlement infrastructure” during his time in office.
In an odd twist, they claimed the US “welcomed the highest number of refugees” since former President Barack Obama’s tenure. Perhaps they know something the rest of America doesn’t because a quick review of recent news reports indicated that even Democrats have expressed concern over the rising number of migrants, caravans, and freight trains carrying refugees reaching the United States’ southern border daily.
The number of land border encounters confirms those concerns. In 2020, Trump’s last year in office, those encounters hit 458,088. The following year, that figure rose to 1,734,686. In FY 2023, with only 11 months reported, the number of border encounters sits at 2,206,039, or roughly 83,000 per day on average.
Despite those statistics, good ole Jerrold and Pramila concluded their statement by claiming the White House was acting in a “measured, responsible” fashion and accusing the Republicans of “fearmongering.” Go figure!
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