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INSIGHTi
U.S Refugee Admissions in FY2021
April 27, 2021
On April 16, 2021, President Joe Biden issued an emergency presidential determination (PD) on FY2021
refugee admissions. The emergency PD revised the al ocations in the original FY2021 PD issued by
President Donald Trump in October 2020. The new PD left the earlier one’s refugee ceiling of 15,000
unchanged.
The refugee provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA §207) authorize the President, after
consulting with members of the House Judiciary Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, to issue
a PD before the beginning of the fiscal year. In the PD, the President sets the refugee ceiling for the year
and al ocates that ceiling among refugees of special humanitarian concern to the United States. INA
Section 207(b) further al ows the President, after congressional consultation, to issue an emergency
determination in the middle of a fiscal year in the event of “an unforeseen refugee emergency situation.”
In the emergency PD, President Biden announced that
an unforeseen emergency refugee situation now exists due to new or increasing political violence,
repression, atrocities, or humanitarian crises in countries including Burma, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Ethiopia, Hong Kong and Xinjiang (China), South Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela, as
well as changing conditions caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
He further stated that he had determined that “the al ocation of admissions among refugees of
humanitarian concern set forth in [the original FY2021 PD] prevents the United States Refugee
Admissions Program from responding to this unforeseen emergency refugee situation.” A February 2021
Department of State (DOS) report, which was provided to the Judiciary Committees in advance of the
emergency consultations, discussed aspects of the emergency situation.
That DOS report detailed the Administration’s proposal to increase the FY2021 refugee ceiling to 62,500.
The emergency PD that was issued two months later instead retained the 15,000 ceiling set in the earlier
PD. The new PD stated that “the admission of up to 15,000 refugees remains justified by humanitarian
concerns and is otherwise in the national interest.” It also noted, “Should 15,000 admissions … be
reached prior to the end of the fiscal year and the emergency refugee situation persists, a subsequent
Presidential Determination may be issued to increase admissions, as appropriate.”
The emergency PD real ocated the refugee ceiling of 15,000 by region (see Table 1). By contrast, the
original FY2021 PD, like the FY2020 PD, had al ocated refugee admissions by population group. PDs for
prior years had al ocated refugee admissions by region.
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Table 1. FY2021 Revised Refugee Allocations
Region
Allocation
Africa
7,000
East Asia
1,000
Europe and Central Asia
1,500
Latin America and the Caribbean
3,000
Near East and South Asia
1,500
Unal ocated Reserve
1,000
Total
15,000
Source: White House, Memorandum for the Secretary of State on the Emergency Presidential Determination on Refugee
Admissions for Fiscal Year 2021, April 16, 2021.
Notes: The unal ocated reserve is to be used if, and where, a need develops for refugee slots in excess of a region’s
allocation.
A return to regional al ocations, according to the DOS report, “would ensure that resettling vulnerable
refugees everywhere is central to [the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program], would reflect the urgent need
for resettlement across al regions, and would avoid discrimination by the type of persecution or country
of origin.” Under the original FY2021 PD, some refugees who had been approved for resettlement could
not be admitted to the United States because they did not fit into one of the FY2021 population
categories.
Following the Administration’s February 2021 consultations with Congress, observers anticipated the
issuance of an emergency determination that would increase the refugee ceiling to 62,500. When the
emergency PD with an unchanged refugee cap was issued on April 16, 2021, it was met with support from
some but furor from refugee advocates.
Later that same day, the White House press secretary issued a statement that the emergency PD “has been
the subject of some confusion.” While not directly addressing the decision to leave the FY2021 refugee
ceiling at 15,000, she said the following about the President’s earlier proposal to increase the ceiling:
“Given the decimated refugee admissions program we inherited, and burdens on the Office of Refugee
Resettlement, his initial goal of 62,500 seems unlikely.”
The press secretary further announced that “we expect the President to set a final, increased refugee cap
for the remainder of this fiscal year by May 15.” In remarks on April 17, 2021, as reported in the press,
President Biden confirmed that the Administration would raise the FY2021 refugee ceiling.
It remains unclear, however, how many refugees wil be admitted to the United States in FY2021.
According to DOS data, U.S. refugee admissions totaled 2,050 in the first half of FY2021. By region,
these admissions were as follows: Africa (682), East Asia (171), Europe and Central Asia (602), Latin
America and the Caribbean (141), and Near East and South Asia (454). FY2020 refugee admissions
totaled 11,814, the lowest in the 40-year history of the U.S. refugee admissions program.
Congressional Research Service
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Author Information
Andorra Bruno
Specialist in Immigration Policy
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