In FY 2024, the U.S.\u00a0resettled<\/a>\u00a0100,034 refugees\u2014the highest number in 30 years and about nine times the number\u00a0resettled<\/a> in FY 2021. The 2024 tally is a reason to celebrate and a reminder that refugee resettlement is highly subject to presidential whims.<\/p>\n

America’s modern refugee resettlement system was established in 1980. The U.S. legally\u00a0defines<\/a>\u00a0a\u00a0refugee<\/em>\u00a0as someone who is living outside of his home country and can’t or won’t return to that country because of previous or potential persecution based on certain criteria, such as race, religion, or political opinion. The U.S. has\u00a0resettled<\/a>\u00a0over 3 million refugees since 1980. The year-by-year level has varied dramatically due to the president’s powerful role in shaping refugee admissions.<\/p>\n

“More than in other areas of immigration, in which Congress sets caps on the number of annual visas and admissions, the president has wide latitude to determine the maximum number of refugees admitted each year (and from where), in consultation with Congress,” notes an\u00a0analysis<\/a>\u00a0by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a nonpartisan think tank.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump set a lower and lower ceiling every year of his first term, and while Joe Biden promised to change course during his presidency, that proved difficult. Until FY 2024, the total number of refugees admitted to the country was\u00a0far lower<\/a>\u00a0than the ceiling Biden set, in large part because Trump-era policies\u00a0hobbled<\/a>\u00a0the resettlement infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Several factors contributed to the 2024 rebound. In addition to increased\u00a0funding<\/a>, technological modernization (i.e., conducting video interviews rather than in-person ones and digitizing case materials) improved government agencies’ capacity to interview and process applicants. The MPI\u00a0explains<\/a>\u00a0that “concurrent processing,” which enables multiple steps such as medical checks and security screening to happen simultaneously, has shortened screening times dramatically.<\/p>\n

Bigger-picture changes helped too. The Biden administration rolled out Safe Mobility Offices across Latin America, which aim to\u00a0provide<\/a>\u00a0locals with information about migration pathways, including refugee admissions. Another initiative, the Welcome Corps,\u00a0allows<\/a>\u00a0U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to privately sponsor refugees, building resettlement capacity and\u00a0reducing<\/a>\u00a0the government’s financial and logistical burdens.<\/p>\n

According to the United Nations, there were\u00a043.4 million<\/a>\u00a0refugees around the world in 2024\u2014a number that has tripled over the past 10 years. The U.S. is in a position to help, and refugees help the U.S. in return. In addition to enriching and revitalizing communities, refugees\u00a0start<\/a>\u00a0businesses at a disproportionately high rate and\u00a0contribute<\/a>\u00a0billions in tax dollars to federal, state, and local coffers.<\/p>\n

Improvements to the resettlement system are easy for a future administration to undo, and with Trump returning to the White House, refugee admissions are likely to fall. It’s not yet clear which changes Trump will impose or how deeply they will affect people seeking protection, but it would be a mistake for America to abandon its opportunity to welcome refugees and benefit from their presence.<\/p>\n

The post Biden Strengthened the Refugee Resettlement System. Will Trump Undo It?<\/a> appeared first on Reason.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Refugee resettlements last year hit a 30-year high, but that progress is fragile. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"categories":[19,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109704"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109704\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/3rdcitynews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}